Infinite Possible Ways to Meet You
by Arsad
Summary: There are countless different realities out there; in every one of them, Tony and Peter have always been part of each other's lives.
1. Through the Game

Hi. It's been a while since I've had this project in mind and decided to create a account, put it on paper and share it with you. This is an AU of unrelated chapters, each showing a different way that Tony and Peter might have meet. These chapters may or may not be part of the MCU and some may contain totally AU fantasy elements. Chapters also will be short or large depending on the story, may contain just friendship or some father and son bonding, no slash. Updates will come sporadically as the ideas pop up in my head.

* * *

_There are countless different realities out there; in every one of them, Tony and Peter have always been part of each other's lives._

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**Infinite Possible Ways to Meet You**

_Through the Game_

~.~

Tony Stark was bored; when the endless meetings were finally over and he could take the plane back to the United States, the flight hours over the Atlantic Ocean stretched as long as the distance between the continents. Since he and the two pilots were the only ones still awake on the aircraft, the billionaire sighed and turned on his notebook, deciding to try to burn some time by looking at anything on the internet.

As soon as the man opened the page, his eyes were assaulted by the hype of an online game that was making a big hit at the moment; he even caught some of his employees at his company playing it at lunchtime, but he never had paid much attention to it. Tony Stark was not a game person, but as the flight would be long and he _was_ bored, the man decided to give a look at it.

Within minutes Tony created an account and accessed the main screen which asked him to enter a nickname before starting. Looking around for some divine inspiration, he, there, awake in the middle of the ocean, the man decided to put the first thing that came to his head, typed FlyingontheSky, which was pretty much what he was doing at the moment, and hit enter.

His game character was thrown into the middle of an open map of an extensive fantasy world; he paced around for some minutes without finding anything interesting, picking up coins and exploring bushes until he finally found something 'alive', a awful attemp of a monster, that attacked him head on. The fight didn't last three seconds until the message 'You died' was shown on his screen in large and mocking letters. Sighing, Tony went again, died again, rose again, died again, returned, died, and rose again, extremely angry. He was about to turn his watch into his armor's iron gauntled and blow up the game and the notebook together with his repulsor when suddenly a new character emerged, another player, who just give _one_ slap at the monster and it _died_. With _one freaking slap_. Victory for both of them.

The Billionaire's eyebrows twitched; he was not amused.

When Tony's eye caught the other player's nickname, he cringed in distaste.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Hey dude! You are a newbie right?_

It took a few seconds for Tony to answer.

_FlyingontheSky: Newbie?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Yeah, it's sort of like a new player, got it?_

_FlyingontheSky:_ _... Something like that. I started about..._

The billionaire looked at his watch; did he really spend half an hour of his life being killed on the spot?

_FlyingontheSky: ... _30_ minutes ago. I was dying of boredom and decided to play this._

The avalanche then came.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: THAT'S SO COOL!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I've gotta to be your very first friend here!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I've been playing this game for almost one year now._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I know every secret it has! I'm going to teach and help you through the stages!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __Soon you will be kicking everyone's ass around here!_

Tony blinked, stunned; he could _feel_ the other's endless excitement falling abundantly from the words on his screen and the man slumped in his chair, running his hand over his face.

_FlyingontheSky: God... you're a kid, right? How old are you? Five?_

The other's reply was immediate.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay:__ I'm not five! I'm Ten!_

Then, the player began typing furiously.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Holy shit!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __This game's is 16+!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I-I mean, I'm not ten! I'm sixteen!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __S__ixteen!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I swear on my __pinky!_

Tony didn't hold back and laughed; the boy was definitely ten.

_FlyingontheSky: Don't worry kid, your secret is safe with me._

_FlyingontheSky: __I'm not going to tell anyone._

A friendship request from StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay appeared in the corner of the screen and Tony accepted it.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Hey man, be nice on me! I just saved your butt back there!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: How old are you anyway? Talking like that it just like you're __seventy or something._

The Billionaire's eyebrows twitched again.

_FlyingontheSky: I'm older than you, but not _that_ old. Don't try to sass on me, underoos._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Gonna say whatever I want old man! Besides, you accepted my friendship invitation! You're stuck with me!_

The man groaned loudly.

_FlyingontheSky: God... Don't make me regret this._

~.~

_FlyingontheSky: Kid, __this isn't going work._

Peter blinked in confusion at his computer screen.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: What?_

_FlyingontheSky: Your __nickname is just too extensive, I can't keep calling you __StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay everytime I want to say something that doesn't even reach half of that sentence. Don't you have something shorter?_

The boy smiked.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: You may call me Peter._

_FlyingontheSky: Is that your real name?_

Peter rolled his eyes.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Of course it is! What else it would be?_

_FlyingontheSky: I don't know... your dog's name?_

He scowled, offended.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I don't have a dog!_

Peter could practically read the man's laugh in his words.

_F__lyingontheSky: I'm messing with you kid; Peter's is a fine name, by the way._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: You should change your nickname to FlyingthroughtheStage._

_FlyingontheSky: Why that?_

The boy smirked.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm gonna kick your butt throught it, if you don't stop teasing me!_

His new friend didn't back down.

_FlyingontheSky: I'm up for the challenge; wanna go PvP?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm on it!_

After the two players advanced at each other for an hour, Peter without using his character's equipment to make the fight fairer, finally they came to a draw and stopped to rest on the top of a mountain, overlooking a lake and a distant city.

_FlyingontheSky: It's Tony, by the way._

The boy stared at it confusion.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: What?_

_FlyingontheSky: My name's Tony._

Peter grinned, cheeky typing.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Admit it; it's your cat's name, ins't?_

_FlyingontheSky: Zip it, kid._

~.~

_FlyingontheSky: Spill it out._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I don't know what you mean?_

_FlyingontheSky: __I'm used to you typing so much that I can barely see the game behind the bible on my computer screen; today, however, you're quieter than usual. So what happened?_

Peter hesitated for a moment, watching the computer screen and his friend's character as if he were really looking at him, and sighing, finally answered.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: It's nothing really..._

_FlyingontheSky: Come on squirt, I'm waiting._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Seriously, it's not worth it, Tony, really..._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I__ts just kid stuff, boring and stupid anyway... and you are going to laugh at me._

_FlyingontheSky: I'm not going to make fun of you, Pete, you can tell me._

The kid sighed; he knew his friend wasn't going to let the matter go so easily and began to tell in resignation.

StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: _I told to some kids in my school that I've meet Iron Man personally once and they called me liar and made fun of me... I'dont know why I still tell it to people, I know nobody believes in me. They think it's impossible, that I'm just teling false stories to try to show off._

His friend was silent for a full minute, the man's character standing still on the screen until finally his reply came.

_FlyingontheSky: You never told me about it... __When did this happen?_

Peter seriously considered not telling the story again, he was sure the man would find it something stupid, but in the end the kid consented and typed it to the other.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I was eight years old and it was the second time I had gone to the Stark Expo, the night when the robots attacked._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __I was wearing an Iron Man mask and some toy repulsors in my hands, it was soooooo stupid, but I tried to shoot at a robot when he tried to attack me and I got scared to death when it worked!_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: __That was when Iron Man appeared out of nowere standing beside me, and he even said 'nice work, kid' as if I had actually done something when he did all the work._

Another full minute of silence passed and Peter sighed; he was sure his friend must have fallen from his chair laughing the whole time.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: You must be laughing right now, I know it, you can tell me, I won't be angry, really._

_FlyingontheSky: I believe in you, kid._

Peter stared at the words, surprised; it was the last thing he expected to read.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Hey Tony... you don't have to lie to make me feel better, its okay._

_FlyingontheSky: I believe in you, Peter._

The man's words came earnestly, devoid of any humor or his normaly teasing, and the kid was deeply moved by his friend's sincerity.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: ... really?_

He typed shyly, and Tony's answer didn't wavered.

_FlyingontheSky: Yes._

_FlyingontheSky: __I believe in you._

~.~

_FlyingontheSky: Peter! Finally you decided to grace me with your __illustrious presence! You've disapeared from the game for two weeks now, I was starting to think you've decided to jump out of the boat._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Hey, Tony..._

That's when Tony realized there was something very wrong with the kid.

_FlyingontheSky: What happened, Pete?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm sorry... so sorry..._

The billionaire's eyes widened in amazement.

_FlyingontheSky: Woa, calm down! There's nothing to apologize here for... Peter, you're okay?_

Silence on the screen from the other side.

_FlyingontheSky: Peter? Please... Kid, talk to me!_

Tony started to get _really_ worried.

_FlyingontheSky: Peter, please, what happened?_

Suddenly the boy started typing.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: We were on this shop..._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: T__his guy showed up... he..he had... this gun..._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: H__e.. he... shot... my uncle... he... he..._

Tony slumped againts his chair, staring at the notebook's screen in horror. The kid stopped typing again, and the man knew that somewhere in that same city a small thirteen-old kid was crying agains his computer's desk. Never before had the distance between them and the fact that they didn't know each other personally bothered him as much as at that moment, and the man felt himself completely useless.

_FlyingontheSky: Shit... Damn, Pete... I'm so sorry..._

He wasn't good at dealing with people at a deep level, let alone comfort a kid with words that were much colder written than spoken, but he cared a lot about Peter and for him Tony tried to make his typing words sound as kind and caring as possible.

_FlyingontheSky: __Why didn't you tell me sooner?_

Tony waited patiently until Peter found himself ready to answer.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm sorry... I coudn't... I just... I'm... not okay..._

_FlyingontheSky: There's nothing wrong in not being okay right now, Peter... You've recentely lost someone close to you... It's okay in not being okay. You don't need to carry the worlds weight above your shoulders, you are just a kid who is still grieving._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm sorry..._

_FlyingontheSky: No more needless apologizes, right? Take your time, breath deep and slow... __I know how it sucks, I've also lost people close to me. The pain will take time to pass, you are not fine, but you will be._

Tony sighed deeply in the silence that settled between them for the next five minutes, and staring at his kid's character on the game, he finally made a decision.

_FlyingontheSky: Pete, I have something for you._

The billionaire typed in a sequence of numbers and sent it to him.

_FlyingontheSky: C__onsider it__ a great achievement, as I don't usually pass my personal phone number to anyone over the internet._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Tony... I..._

_FlyingontheSky: No, I'm not buying that. Save it on your cell phone and text me anytime you wish, right? And if anything happens, _anything_ above the normal, you are going to call me, understood, Peter?_

The kid agreed after a few seconds.

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Yeah..._

_FlyingontheSky: I mean it. If you need me, you call me._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Thank you, Tony._

~.~

_Tony: Hey kid, I've recorded you mentioned that your birthday is coming up soon, ins't? What day it was? August 10?_

_Peter: Hi Tony! Yeah, but why?_

_Tony: __My kid is growing up, that's why, turning into a fourteen year-old insufferable teenager. We should celebrate this; how about I give you a gift this year?_

_Peter: I'm not a insufferable teenager! You love me!_

_Peter: You don't need to give me anything, really._

_Tony: I want to; so, __what is your postal address?_

_Peter: I won't give you my address; what if you come and kidnap me away from my auntie?_

Tony risked another glance at his cell phone and as he read the text he laughed out aloud, drawing the attention of the members at the table.

"Mr. Stark! Please, this is extremely important!" The man who was speaking glared at him, annoyed that the billionaire didn't even spared him a glance; eyes glued on his cell phone in his hand.

"Don't worry, honey, I'm paying attention." Tony smirked and continued typing.

_Tony: __Really kid... only someone out of their mind would want to kidnap a teenager starting entering fully on his pubescent years. I know what the mix of alcool and girls can do and I don't want you dropping a baby on my doorstep anytime soon._

_Peter: TONY!_

_Peter: IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!_

_Peter: I don't... I... you..._

_Peter: I hate you._

_Tony: Sure you do._

_Peter: Jerk._

_Tony: So, address or not?_

_Peter: NO!_

_Tony: Fine, let's do it differently, then. I know you live in NY because of you phone number; I will leave a package for you tomorrow at 6 A.M under a park bench at the address I'll send you next. It's a public open location. It's up to you if you want to go and pick it up or not. Night Underoos!_

~.~

Early in the morning his phone began ringing incessantly over the bedroom, and groaning, heavy with sleep, the man stared at the cell phone screen, the white light in the dark room almost blinded him.

It showed his mensage inbox.

_Peter: TONYYYYYYY!_

_Peter: OMG! OMG! OMG!_

_Peter: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GIVE ME A FREAKING _LIGHTSABER REPLICA_!_

_Peter: THIS IS SOOOOOOO COOL!_

_Peter: My friend Ned almost passed out when he saw it!_

_Peter: Shit! I almost passed out when _I_ saw it!_

_Peter: IT'S THE MOST AMAZING GIFT OF ALL MY LIFE!_

_Peter: THANKYOU!THANKYOU!THANKYOU!_

_Peter: THANKYOU!THANKYOU!THANKYOU!__THANKYOU!THANKYOU!THANKYOU!_

Drowsily, the man managed to type down a answer.

_Tony: Geez kid; __stop flooding my inbox._

The reply was immediate.

_Peter: YOU'RE AWESOME TONY!_

He snorted softly.

_Tony: You're welcome, Pete._

~.~

_FlyingontheSky: Hey kid, what are you doing here at this hour? Shoudn't you be in school?_

_FlyingontheSky: __Y__ou aren't skipping class, are you?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: No! I got sick... sort of._

_FlyingontheSky: Elaborate it. You caught a cold?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: No... I.. We were at this field trip yesterday and I got bite by a spider. I was okay at first but then everything started to hurt so badly and I've been excused from school to recover; got stay home for five days._

_FlyingontheSky: It was that bad huh? Are you allergic to spiders?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Perhaps, I didn't knew it thought; I feel as if I've been hit by a bus._

_FlyingontheSky: That's a shit thing; I guess its up to me to entertain you now; can't have you dying of boredom on me. So, what you want to do?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: It's okay Tony, I don't want to disturb you if you're on your break time in work. I can wait until evening to play._

_FlyingontheSky: I'm lucky to say that I do my own work schedule. You are not bothering me._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: What are you? Some kind of government agent?_

_FlyingontheSky: No, underoos; far from that._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: A writer?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: A comedian?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: A pizza delivery man?_

_FlyingontheSky: None of those; and better stop right there, kid, I'm starting to get afraid of where your other suggetions are going._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Come on, Tony! I seriously want to know what you do for living!_

_FlyingontheSky: Whats the fun of telling you now if I can show you when we finally meet in person? You know, I can just drop you my address when you stop being afraid of it._

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: I'm not afraid!_

_Flyin__gontheSky: You're telling me; so, what you want to do?_

_StarWarsDieHardFanOnTheWay: Kick your butt is just fine._

_Flyin__gontheSky: Want so see you try; bring it on, kiddo._

~.~

_Peter: Hey Tony! How you doing?_

_Peter: I won't manage to be at the game tonight, sorry! Swear I will catch up with you tomorrow._

The teenager watched the night city spread out before him, the buildings full of lights and the avenues full of life; the wind touched his face pleasantly and he grinned, glad for another chance to patrol. The phone rang in his hand and he looked down at it, seeing his friend's answer pop up on the screen.

_Tony: I'm fine, kiddo. It's the third time this week, what are you up to at night?_

Peter looked at the mask of his suit that he held in his other hand and sighed; he liked Tony a lot, but couldn't go around telling people the truth that he was Spiderman, it would freak him out and the man no longer would want to talk to him, or would think he was lying and would tease him merciless. Well... his aunt would surely be freaked out if she found out.

He decided to answer.

_Peter: I'm catching up on homework; I have a lot of tests to do at the end of the month._

The man's answer came the next second.

_Tony: Riiiiiiiight, underoos. I will pretend to believe you._

_Peter: Hey, I'm being serious!_

_Tony: So am I. What is it? A new girlfriend?_

Peter groaned.

_Peter: I don't have a girlfriend!_

His phone rang again, announcing a new message.

_Tony: Boyfriend, then?_

_Peter: GOD, NO!_

_Tony: I'm just messing with you kiddo. If you can't play is fine, we will do it another time._

_Tony: When you finally decide to come over, bring her here, will you? I would like to meet her too._

Fuming, Peter put on his mask and jumped out of his spot, throwing a web at the nearest building, purposely not answering his friend's message.

~.~

Usually when the school organized the field trips Peter and Ned would be anxious to go; with the announcement that the next one's location would be a surprise, both friends burned with infinite curiosity and spent hours talking, trying to guess the thousand possibilities of places they could visit. His excitement was so great that he shared it with Tony during the weeks preceding it, texting his friend's cell phone almost nonstop.

_Tony:__ Geez, kid, you shouldn't get that excited; it's probably an old museum or something._

Peter could feel the teasing in the man's words.

_Tony:__ What if they take you just for a walk around a lake or some park?_

_Peter:__ That's soooooo not cool, Tony!_

He referred more to the other's attitude than the suggestion of places, and the teenager was sure the man could read the whining in his words, replying amused.

_Tony:__ Tell me when you find out._

So, when the bus stopped in front of the Stark Tower next Monday, Peter wasn't just beaming; every pore of his body distilled pure excitement as the kid was literally bouncing on his feet; even Flash constantly calling him 'Penis Parker' didn't bother him anymore, and Peter and Ned spent the next few hours geeking over everything they could put their eyes on.

~.~

"What a bunch of kids are doing in my tower?" Tony asked in surprise, and almost in horror, staring from the penthouse at the three buses that parked in front of the tall building and kept spitting out kids, _many_ kids, who ran like crazy into the lobby.

"Today is scheduled the field trip of the Midtown School of Science and Technology, Boss." FRIDAY's voice answered him; "They will spend the day visiting the tower and the labs."

"Who authorized it?" The billionaire inquired, watching children still popping out of the vehicles; did they never end? How many children could fit inside a bus anyway?

"Miss Potts, Boss." The AI informed him. "She also scheduled a 30 minute interview with you to take place in the auditorium before the end of their visit."

The man grimaced, knowing that there's no way he could convince Pepper to take his place after he _made her_ travel to Europe in his place at a business meeting last week. Sighing resignedly, he mentally began to prepare himself for the 30 minutes that would be one of the longest of his life.

Payback's a bitch.

~.~

"Oh my god!"

"It's him! It's him!"

"Iron Man!"

"Anthony Stark!"

"It's really him!"

"Sooo coool!"

"Iron Man!"

The sudden burst of shouts around him echoing loudly through the auditorium would normally have made his hyper-sensitive ears ache in protest, but Peter was so awestruck by his hero's presence in the same room to give it any care. Iron Man was there; just a couple of steps away from him and the teenager could only gawk at the man who easily centered all the attention upon himself.

"Hey kids." The billionaire greeted them with a grin playing on his lips; he was elegantly dressed in a dark gray suit and a white shirt whose fabric screamed 'expensive', a watch that seemed to be made of gold on his wrist and black shoes that shone in the artificial light as much as blinker of a Christmas tree.

He was soooo cool!

While the men and women who accompanying him sat in neatly arranged chairs above the stage, security guards and staff from the Tower, the SI owner sat on one of the small dark carpeted staircase to get closer to them, loosely crossing his legs and leaning against the structure, shooting one arm over the length of the stage beside him.

"So, I hope you are enjoying this trip; you sure raised the moods in the labs around here."

Several students began to speak at the same time, their voices merging into one incomprehensible whole, and unsuccessfully their teachers tried to quiet them down, their voices faded in the middle of teenagers.

Tony raised his hands and spoke loudly.

"Alright!" His voice echoed authoritatively through the auditorium and immediately the room fell silent to hear him, and chuckling, the billionaire proceeded in a more normal tone. "Listen kids, we are short on time, we have only 30 minutes to talk and I will answer most of the questions you want to throw at me, but for this to work we will have to get organized to make the most of these few minutes, okay?"

All the students nodded in immediate agreement.

_"_Here's the deal_; _anyone who wants to ask a question will raise their hand and I will choose one to speak, the others will wait silently, respecting your colleague's turn and thus making it possible not to ask repeated questions."

The billionaire then inquired.

"So, who wants to give the first shot?"

Several hands shot up and the man chose a girl from the crowd.

"Katlyn, right?" Mr. Stark spoke, reading the girl's name on the badge and she nodded quickly. "Go on, honey."

"Mr. Stark, are you afraid of flying?"

"Not even a bit." He grinned to her and then chose another raised hand.

Question after question was thrown at the billionaire, who answered them all easy-going; Peter was so nervous, he was desperate to ask Iron Man if he remembered him; the little boy he saved and praised at the Stark Expo a few years ago, but his courage failed him and he couldn't raise his arm to voice the question.

Ned next to him started poking his ribs sharply.

"Dude!" His friend whispered. "Come on! Ask him! Go on! Ask it!"

"I can't Ned!" Peter whispered back. "It's stupid, for sure he won't remember and I don't want to be embarrassed in front of the school and give Flash another reason to mock me."

"But this is your only chance, man! There won't be another one!" Ned begged, and seeing his friend's reluctance, he took the matter in his hands. "If you won't ask, I'll go for you."

"Ned, no!"

Peter tried to hold him, but Ned's hand shot up fast in the air and Mr. Stark's eyes passed over them at that very moment and he called.

"You over there in the corner." The man peered at the boy's name of the boy's on his badge. "Ted? Ned? Isn't? Give your shot."

What was on Ned's mind fled and all went white; he stared at Mr. Stark in awe.

"Did you just speak my name?" He asked in daze and his colleagues laughed around him.

The billionaire snorted and confirmed.

"I believe I did." Mr. Stark nodded at him and advanced to another student and the next question.

Ned colapsed on his chair with a glazed expression and Peter facepalmed.

"Dude! I can't believe you've got a question and asked _that_!"

"Iron Man spoke my name!" Ned whispered dreamly, barely paying attention to his friend at all.

A couple minutes later the billionaire raised his hands, interrupting the interview.

"Alright kids, pause for a minute and then I'll accept one more question before we wrap up; think carefully about it."

The murmur washed over the students who were whispering excitedly to each other about the last question and who would be chosen to ask it. Peter paid no attention to his colleagues, he stood watching his childhood hero, seeing him stretch and shift his sitting position to a more comfortable one. The man took his cell phone from his suit pocket and his eyes scanned the screen, softening slightly as he began typing on it, a small fond smile appearing on his lips.

Peter was delighted; it was so different from the image of the idol that had been talking to them during the interview and that everyone was used to seeing on camera and in magazines. Mr. Stark seemed more relaxed and carefree, at easy... Genuine was the word that came to the teenager's mind and no one around him seemed to notice that small, quick, simple change in the man's demeanor; he surely cared a lot about the person he was talking to.

Peter grabbed his own cell phone, took a selfie quickly and paused to admire the photo. He was there, grinning like a happy idiot with Iron Man seated behind him on the far corner typing on his phone. He was sure he would never see the man wear that personal expression again, and now if someone asked him, he could prove that he truly had met him.

His phone vibrated in his hand in silent mode so as not to disturb the interview, and Peter smiled when he saw his friend's message pop up on the screen.

_Tony:__ Hey kid! How are you doing? I'm not used to spending all day with my inbox empty._

_Tony:__ Thinking about it now, wasn't that field trip of yours today? If so, I hope they didn't take you to an old dusty museum. Have fun and tell me all about it later!_

Peter started to type in an answer but stopped when silence hovered back on the auditorium and he saw that Mr. Stark was ready to end the interview.

"So kids; who's got the big final question for me?"

Several hands shot up, begging for the man's attention; Peter mustered all his courage and before it could ran away again he began to raise his hand; half way to it, however, Flash kicked hard the back of his chair and Peter was pushed forward brutally, he was forced to use both hands to stop himself from hitting his face in the front chair. Flash snickered behind him and the billionaire's voice rang through the auditorium, choosing another student.

"You, Alice, right? What have you thought?" Mr. Stark asked, the girl spoke, he answered and the interview ended in less than two minutes, with Flash still laughing behind him and his Parker luck backfiring against him _again_.

Peter sighed utterly dejected as he watched the billionaire quickly say goodbye and walk away surrounded by the Tower's staff towards the elevator. The teenager looked at his cell phone; at least he had managed to take that picture.

Remembering Tony's message, Peter began typing again.

_Peter:__ Hi Tony! Sorry to keep you in the dark all day! We're finishing the field trip visit, you won't believe where I am! In the tower of Stark Industries! We just talked to Iron Man in person! It was soooooooo awesome! I tried to ask him if he remembered me on the final question of his interview, but this stupid jerk kid from my school kicked my chair and I lost the opportunity, but I'm so freaking happy! I got to take a picture of him! You know I don't usually send you photos, but I will this time so you can believe me! IT WAS SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!_

The teenager attached the picture to the message and hit the send button.

At this very moment a cell phone began to rang a piece of familiar music; it wasn't so loud as to catch the attention of the crowd of students around him, but his super-hearing caught it immediately and he recognized it from ACDC, one of his friend's favorites songs. Before he could even register it, Peter's head turned to follow the music and his eyes widened in amazement when he saw Mr. Stark enter the elevator and reach inside his suit's pocket for his phone.

No way ... noooo waaaaaaaaayyyy!

The billionaire's eyes softened again as he stared at the screen, then widened in shock, eyebrows rising into his forehead and his mouth dropping partly. The man's head shot up suddenly and his eyes scanned the crowd of students frantically until they rested directly on Peter, staring back at him with his jaw on the floor and still gripping his cell phone in numb hands, his finger still hitting the send button.

Their eyes meet a second before the elevator's doors closed.

~.~

"Dude that was so freaking awesome! I still can't believe Iron Man really said my name!" Ned spoke nonstop beside his friend as they walked through the tower's lobby along with other students towards the exit.

Peter, however, was uncharacteristic silence, walking in daze; couldn't even remember how he got back from the auditorium to the tower's entrance. His mind was numb, still trying to process if what he saw was truth or a hallucination of his mind. Ned beside him finally stopped talking and realized that something was wrong with the other teenager.

"Hey Peter, are you alright?"

The other nodded absently, not fully aware of the question, but before Ned could speak further they were forced to part briefly to return to the reception the white visitor badges they had received at the beginning of the field trip.

When Peter handed his over, the woman at the desk looked at his name on the badge and spoke.

"Your name is Peter Parker?"

The teenager nodded, confused, accepting the envelope that she gently handed him with a smile.

"I was informed to give this to you, Mr. Parker. I hope you enjoyed your stay with us and we hope to see you back soon."

~.~

Peter was sitting alone in his room, watching his phone lying on his desk and the black badge with the Stark Industries logo resting beside it; their tour guide had told them about it, it was a permanent staff badge card.

His phone vibrated for a second upon receiving a new message and the kid stared at it and at the badge afraid to touch them, as if he even blinked they would both disappear out of nowhere.

He never called Tony in all the years they had knew each other; he was afraid to end up bothering him at a bad time or in the middle of work, so he always texted his friend every day, and never called.

His phone vibrated again and the boy remained motionless as a statue, afraid to look at the messages and realize that he really must have gone mad.

When another minute passed without any reaction from the teenager, his phone began to vibrate again, this time constantly, and the screen lit up receiving a call. Peter stared at it and jumped, falling out of his chair as Anthony Stark's voice echoed through the room coming from the device.

"Geez kid! I can't believe I had to hack into your phone to make you answer the damn thing! I've been texting you all afternoon!"

The teenager shook his head; he was indeed going crazy.

"Pete? Hey..." The man's voice got kinder. "I know you are in there, stop ignoring me."

"My god..." The kid whispered shocked. "You're Anthony Stark ..."

"Yeah... I may have forgotten to mention my surname to you before, but it's just a small detail, really." The billionaire shrugged it off.

"It's... It's really you?" Peter asked again and his friend chuckled on the phone.

"Yes, it's really me; I'm Tony, people closer call me that; and you are Peter... Come on, Pete, we're way past that now, don't we?"

When the teenager didn't respond, the man sighed and said slowly; in the same patient, gentle way he used to type to the kid when he touched a sore spot or when they had shared an important secret.

"Pete, look... I wasn't expecting to meet you today like this; hell, I had even forgotten that Pepper had scheduled a school visit to the Tower. I want you to meet me, not like that, like… my public way to go through people, but me, the friend you've been talking to all these years. Let's start over from zero, right? Now that you have my address and the access badge, come over tomorrow; tell your aunt you're going to visit a friend. I'll ask my driver to pick you up after school..."

~.~

That's how Peter found himself inside Tony's private elevator in the Stark Tower after being driven by a man named Happy, who didn't look so-happy-at-all in an Audi that cost more than his aunt's apartment, seeing the numbers go up beyond the floors destined to the staff as their tour guide had explained to them the day before. The kid was a pure ball or nervous, pulling with the straps of his backpack endless until he jumped a little when the elevator stopped suddenly on the top floor and the metal doors opened.

He stared at the Penthouse's entrance that was longer than his school's courtyard.

"Good evening, Mr. Parker." The voice of an AI greeted him and he snapped out of it. "Welcome back to the Stark Tower."

"H-Hi! I-I-I'm.. huh.. I-I'm P-Peter! I-I've.. I was.. I invaded..." The teenager mentally kicked himself. "I-I mean, I didn't invaded! I-I was invited! Yeah, invited here, T-Tony.. I-I mean, M-Mr. Stark invited me... Yeah... Jesus, Iron Man invited me here..."

Even Peter couldn't believe his own words and the AI answered with amusement in her tone; the man's AI seemed to also share his teasing.

"We sure were waiting for you; Boss is in his private lab, you can go down the hall to your left, at the second door."

The teenager strolled down the hall, following the directions and stopped in front of a large glass door, raised his hand to knock politely, but before he did the door opened on its own.

"Come in, Mr. Parker, please make yourself at home." AI spoke to him.

As Peter entered the new room, he dropped his backpack to the floor in amazement.

The lab was spacious and full of the most advanced technology any scientist in the world could dream of having, much like the other labs his school had visited the day before, but what clung to his eyes now was the iron armor that was on display inside a glass chamber. Without realizing the kid approached, openly staring at it with the same admiration he had looked at it when he was eight years old, used by the man who had saved his life.

"Looks like you figured out what I do for living." A familiar voice called softly behind him. "I build and fix things, armors; I also run a company on my spare time."

Peter turned around, eyes widening to find his childhood hero standing so close to him, only three paces away; Tony Stark was casually dressed in a black T-shirt that had a ACDC logo on the front, dark trousers and flip-flops, showing a totally different side of himself compared to the distant and untouchable billionaire of the interview; he was simple and close, there, at arm's reach, not a distant superstar, but as the friend he had imagined him to be all these years.

The man's brown eyes watched him with that same genuine, rare fondness that the teenager had managed to capture in the picture, and only now did he realize that that look had been always aimed at him. A small smile lay naturally on the man's lips and it was Tony who finally broke the distance between them and wrapped the kid in his arms.

He smelled of cologne, motor oil and bravery; familiarity, friendship and genuine tenderness.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you, Pete." Tony told him in a whisper, his voice quivering slightly. "When you told me you were that kid at Stark Expo, I was happy to know you were alright and that life had thrown me an opportunity to see you again. I've always remembered you."

"Tony... I… " Peter glued himself to the man, embracing his neck for dear life and unable to hold back, thrilled, the teenager began to cry, the tears slid abundantly across his face; mortified, he thought the other would push him away, but Tony's arms stayed firmly around him, supporting him, cradling him gently.

"Damn, kid..." The man whispered exasperated and fondly. "I didn't want to rush into things and scare you off... I waited all this time until that little boy I met was ready to take the first step and open the door for me to his current life. But seriously, Pete, four years? Took you long enough. "

Peter barked a half-laugh, half-sob and Tony smiled, ruffling his kid's hair gently.


	2. Through College

Hi guys! I'm glad you liked the first chapter! Thanks for your encouragement; it means a lot to me! I made some small corrections in _Through the Game_ and also in the synopsis, I think the word realities suited it better. Originally I didn't planned for this chapter to be soooo long like this, but as I didn't want to cut scenes off I posted it entirely, sorry about that XD

As warnings this chapter's mentions symptoms of Panic attacks and Peter is older than Tony.

I hope you like it!

* * *

**Infinite Possible Ways to Meet You**

_Through College_

~.~

"I don't want a roommate." Tony repeated the words to the other man, this time very slowly to make himself clear, as if the Residence Hall's manager had some kind of problem understanding them.

And, apparently, Mr. Johnson did because he nervously stuttered, repeating the same stupid excuse to the furious 19 year old young man.

"I-I'm terribly sorry for this i-inconvenience, Mr. Stark, bu-but unfortunately, w-we don't have another a-apartment to allocate this new transfer student at this advanced time of our semester..." Tony glared at the man so fiercely that the other visibly shrank, having to force himself to proceed. "W-We swear it will be for a v-very short period..."

"I don't care; find a way to fix this and put him somewhere else!" The Stark heir raised his voice. "I've been paying you all these years for the rent of the two bedrooms of this apartment, I have the full right over it; if I want the other room to be empty, it stays empty."

"I-I'm a-afraid we c-can't do t-this, Mr. S-Stark; this student was very r-recommended from his previous i-institution... H-He's also studying engineering in the same s-semester as you; o-only one year to complete the c-course... you t-two could..."

"If I wanted to adopt a kid to be his babysit, I would have picked any MIT student a long time ago!" Tony snapped and it took all of himself to not shove his right fist in the manager's face.

He was covered in fury, but for the sake of his future career, the young man forced himself to stay still on his chair, shaking in rage, but controlled. He didn't want to have to deal with all the shit that would come from his father later if he beat the crap out of Mr. Johnson now, not to mention the college's reaction.

Sighing irritably, Tony asked the scared man in the calmer voice that he could muster.

"Listen, I'm not happy about this and my parents will heard of it, but fine; how long will I have to tolerate this nuisance?"

The pale manager sighed clearly more relieved.

"N-No more than an m-month! We will change his apartment as soon as Mr. Filden does his t-transferring. W-We regret the inconvenience M-Mr. Stark, for this you won't have to pay this month's rent..."

~.~

His nuisance nightmare of a month's duration arrived in the middle of the afternoon of the same day; he was a skinny, pale man about the same height as him, with short, curly messy brown hair and eyes in the same color that stared shyly around the apartment and at his new roommate, who sat sprawled on the couch of the living room with his shirt open, legs crossed and an arm thrown over the seat's armband. The man's right hand nervously tugged at the straps of his backpack while the other carried a suitcase; he was neatly dressed in a white long sleeve shirt buttoned up until the top and a pair of blue jeans with its hem slightly bunched.

Everything about him screamed nerdy, boring, bookworm and antisocial for a clear lack of ability to deal with people, and Tony easily glimpsed his last year sitting alone in the back of class sulking on his miserable life over his books.

The playboy felt irritation begin to grow within himself; He closed his eyes and pinched his nose to prevent himself from snapping at the other and scare him off from _his_ apartment.

It was just great; they paired him, the most popular and genius student of MIT with a fucking idiot, outcast scared kid who probably could not even go piss alone, and he would need to babysit him for a month.

Great.

Just _fucking_ great.

"H-Hi! I-I'm Peter... Peter Lars." The transfer student said shyly, reaching out to greet him and Tony opened his eyes and glared at him; the poor transferred student cringed, his hand hovered uncomfortable in the air for ten seconds until he finally retreated it.

"Stark." Tony said dryly and cut off the other's 'nice to meet you' before he could even open his mouth. "Listen, kid, because I will only speak the rules once."

Peter frowned; he sure was older than the playboy was for the other to call him kid, but he didn't dare to complain it aloud; Tony pointed to a closed door across the room.

"That's your room; all your things will stay inside and if I find something lying around that shouldn't, I don't care, I'll throw it in the trash can; you won't touch anything in the living room and will keep everything clean. That door is my room's, you won't enter it and if I see that you messed with my stuff I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. If I say 'get out' you will get out of apartment and will be back only the next day. Your stay here is short and I am counting the days for it to end soon. Please, have the sense to make this period go painlessly as possible. "

"O-Okay..." Peter nodded slowly, wide-eyed, staring at his roommate as if at any moment he were going to jump on his neck.

Sighing, Tony threw a key at the other who caught it in the air at the last second.

"It's a copy of the front door; you will return it to me when you leave by the end of the month. Now, get lost from my sight, kid."

Peter scurried off quickly, hiding himself inside his new bedroom.

~.~

Peter was in the courtyard just in front of Residence Hall, sitting under the shade of a tree with an engineering book lying in his lap; it was his day of rest and he didn't had classes to take, the scenery was pleasant and the breeze gentle, the sun clouded. His chosen spot was located far from the main passage and his position hid him from other people's eyes, but it allowed him a perfect view of everything that happened at the entrance of the building.

There was just him, his book, his tree and his loneliness, as he had always been since he arrived MIT about a week ago. It seemed to work like a magnet inverted, pushing people away from him and he himself made no effort to try to approach them... he knew he couldn't.

So it was just him, his book and his tree, and just as the twenty-four-year-old looked away from the exhausting reading to give himself five minutes of rest from study, Peter saw his roommate walking across the courtyard surrounded by a small crowd of people who followed him from side to side like ducklings following their mother duck towards some lake.

Peter laughed softly at his own joke and momentarily closed the book, watching the other student as the good mood began to leave his countenance and his mind drifted to ruminate on the person who was Anthony Stark.

He was literally everything every male student wanted to be; he was handsome, filthy rich, heir to one of the largest companies in the world, had charisma and natural charm to deal with people and did it so well that he easily managed any kind of situation. The men followed him like some kind of walking deity in between them and the women salivated behind him so much that Peter didn't know how they hadn't choked on it yet.

Anthony paraded around the campus as if he owned it, and besides being a playboy, he was a brilliant genius who entered college at fifteen years-old, could study physics and electrical engineering at the same time and made textbooks look obsolete by performing advanced calculations without even consulting the formulas during classes.

His roommate smirked and waved at the crowd of students every day, but it didn't take long for Peter to realize that the Stark heir partially faked it, and wondered if he realized this just because by an ironical joke of fate he ended up sharing the other's apartment.

Tony, as he preferred to be called, liked the attention he got to a certain degree and hated it when it started to enter personal level. He preferred to stay up at nights in his own room, listening to rock music while fiddling with circuit boards, inventing something, and sometimes drinking alcohol that he secretly hid in a hole in the wall behind the living room's bookcase.

In the end, they both were somewhat lonely, though for different reasons.

Tony as a person... wasn't a bad guy at all, Peter mused; he wasn't trying to defend him, his roommate was jerk, and especially when he wanted to be one Tony did the job well, and the transfer student quickly learned to get into the other's routine to make the month pass by as best as possible between them. As long as he was out of his sight and kept things organized in the apartment, the Stark heir wouldn't even spare him a glance every time Peter returned at night, finding him sprawled on the couch reading something or fiddling on his cell phone.

Still watching him from afar until he disappeared around the curve of the buildings taking with him the entire crowd, leaving behind the place quiet again, Peter wondered how different their lives were.

A shadow of sadness filled his countenance and the man, watching the book lying in his lap, couldn't help but also wish for a brief moment to be a little like Anthony Stark. He didn't want his status, his popularity, his money or even his genius…

He just wished to be normal.

~.~

As Peter approached their apartment that early evening, he immediately knew that he wouldn't spend the night in his room, and indeed after opening the door, pushing it aside and dragging an empty whiskey bottle along the way, the man stopped in the doorway and stared at his roommate sprawled on the living room's couch with an almost naked girl on top of him, both making out on it; Peter was sure he had seen her in one of the classes they had taken earlier, though he couldn't remember her name.

For someone who liked the place organized, it sure as hell looked like a hurricane had stepped through it with their clothes thrown all over the room. Tony didn't even deign to spare him a glance.

"Out, Lars."

Shaking his head in disapproval, Peter resigned himself to grab two books from the shelf and slammed the door behind him. Sighing longingly, staring ahead into the empty corridor, Peter decided to go study outside and braced himself for the uncomfortable night's sleep in the communal study room.

~.~

"Hey, Lars!" A group of guys called him in the hallway of the main building.

Peter only had time to raise his head as they ran past him and one of the men shoved him hard against the wall; he slammed and fell, his books sprawled on the floor and laughter echoed farther.

"Stark's shoes are shining brighter than the other week! Did he hire you to lick his boots?" Peter's face reddened but remained silent; the mocking laughs were abruptly cut off as Tony's voice spoke from across the hall.

"Quit this bullshit; if I needed anyone to lick my shoes I probably would have picked one of you, since your tongues are so big that you can't keep it in your mouth."

"T-Tony!"

"H-Hey, man..."

The Stark heir, already previously annoyed for other motives, felt the sensation grow even larger within himself; he didn't have time to deal with a bunch of wannabe clowns.

"Get out of my sight." He snapped and the group quickly fled out of the building.

Glancing partially at the man sitting on the floor, staring back at him as if he had grown another head, Tony pulled him out of his stupor, saying impatiently.

"What are you still doing sitting there, Lars? Stand up for God's sake!"

Peter jumped; He quickly gathered his things and stood, still looking at the other.

"I... thank you."

"Whatever." The playboy shrugged. "I don't care what happens to you, Lars, but if you don't start to stand out for yourself, this shit that happened here will be the least of your worries."

Tony proceeded down the hall leaving Peter where he was, watching him until he disappeared around the bend.

~.~

When the head himself of the undergraduate engineering program entered the classroom, interrupting their class and called his name, Tony knew from the man's pale countenance that something was very, very wrong. When they both left the place, alone in the corridor, he received the bomb.

"I am sorry to be the one to give you this terrible news, Mr. Stark... Unfortunately, an hour ago your parents' plane suffered an unexpected electrical breakdown while flying to France and crashed before leaving American airspace. No one survived it, they..."

Tony's mind shut down completely, blocking out the man's voice, his previous words rolling around his head over and over the information he wasn't able to fully grasp at that very moment.

_His parents' plane... crashed... no one survived it..._

The Stark heir lost the track of the reality around him; he barely remembered calling the other a liar, pushing off his hands that tried to steady him in sympathy. He didn't remember running away, crossing the courtyard to an empty place, away from everything and away from everyone.

He and his father had a shit of a relationship, but the man had been constantly in his life and he _was_ his father, but his mother... his always gentle and caring mother...

The strangled sob escaped his lips and the young man stumbled and crashed hard on his knees beside a tree, tearing his pants on the concrete floor.

It hurt; his chest hurt so much that he couldn't breathe. He gasped, trashing around, arching his body in despair. He was choking, the world began to surround and press him, darkening around him, and he was choking; absurd fear invaded his being, his hands desperately went to his own neck, fingers scratching the skin furiously.

He couldn't breath; he couldn't breathe!

He was dying; he could feel it! He was dying, his body was fucking _betraying_ him and he was dying!

Suddenly someone else was at his side and in the next instant, amid the chaos that dominated his mind, Tony found himself being hugged, arms holding him gently and at the same time in surprisingly strong grip to keep him from hurting himself.

"Breathe, Tony." The other man told him.

"I-I can't..!" The heir Stark gasped, feeling his chest contract painfully.

"Yes, you can do it!" The other insisted. "You're not dying; I know it seems so and that the world is suffocating you, but it's going to be all right. You're not dying and you're not alone. I've got you."

"Can't breathe... can't breathe!"

"You need to try, Tony." The other man told him with the most kindness and patience in the world. "You can do it. You are not alone, I've got you, I've got you."

For what seemed like an eternity, the Stark heir began to slowly regain control over his own body and fresh air invaded his lungs and Tony swallowed large gulps of air, his body shaking and his heart pounding in his aching chest. He clung to the other man, his touch grounding him in the present, pushing away the impending sensation of death. Tears ran down his face for a long time.

When the 19-year-old finally managed to muster the strength to weakly lift his face and look at the person who had found and helped him, he came across his roommate watching him back in concern.

"Come on; you can't stay here like this..." Peter coerced him gently, putting Tony's arm around his shoulders and helping him to his feet, steadying him around the waist.

Slowly they walked all the way back to Residence Hall, Peter holding and steadying his roommate every time the other stumbled on the way. They didn't talk and when they arrived at the apartment, Peter helped Tony to sit on the couch and refrained himself from visible wince in sympathy for the other; he looked absolutely like crap.

Peter fetched a glass of water and handed it to the Stark heir who drank the contents in silence, his brown eyes staring ahead into nothingness. Sighing, the 24-year-old sat on the other end of the couch and his roommate's voice weakly spoke.

"How did… you know...?"

"I've had panic attacks in the past." Peter answered and they did not talk any more.

Peter offered him his silent company all the time and hours passed until Tony finally gave himself away to exhaustion, drifting into a dreamless sleep on the very spot he sat.

~.~

Tony was excused from college for three days; he traveled to New York where a funeral ceremony was held for his parents and some images of it were transmitted on tv to worldwide; Peter watched the news in their apartment, all displaying in large letters the information that Howard's business partner, Obadiah Stane, would take over the temporary management of the company until Anthony Stark graduated from MIT and took over fully his family business as the new CEO.

Tony returned to MIT in the middle of the afternoon on the third day just in time to enter Electric Power Systems class. As soon as the Stark heir stepped into the room he was already bombarded by wishes of 'I'm sorry for your loss.' from their colleagues and he brushed it all aside with an elegant hand gesture; the serious look on his face quickly made the small crowd of students scatter to leave him alone.

He seemed to have recovered during his time away, or at least enough to not let his recent grief show to the world. He strolled between the tables and to everyone's surprised look, the playboy went to the back of the room and threw himself into the vacant spot next to his roommate; even Peter stared at him strangely.

"What are you doing here?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" Tony asked pointedly, knowing that the place hadn't been occupied since the other began studying there. Having Peter's silence as the negative answer, he said. "The place is public, I want to sit here."

"Okay..." Peter answered slowly, looking back at his notes.

The class went on for a few more minutes with the two of them sitting in silence while every student in the room constantly threw astonished looks at them. Their teacher finished the lesson to start a study period.

"Now you can take advantage of the next half hour to study for our next week's test. You can study alone or if you prefer in pairs, applying the exercises to each other."

Peter was already reaching out for his backpack to pick up his books when Tony placed his chair directly in front of his roommate's desk, startling the older student and purposely giving his back to the groveling ones that had begun to line up behind him in dispute of who would pair up with Tony Stark.

When Peter continued frozen, openly staring at him, Tony rolled his eyes.

"Wake up, Lars; I already have all this stuff in mind, but I'm sure you don't and won't be able to if you stay distracted. Come on, I'll shoot you some questions and you will answer the ones you can, if you find any difficult we'll work on that."

"Alright..." Peter agreed hesitantly.

He accepted the exercise sheet that the Stark heir had recently written while wondering at first what were the other's real intentions; After answering the third question Peter realized that this was Tony's way of thanking him for the other day, and feeling a little more at easy, the man began to focus completely on the exercises.

Tony watched him, assessing him and gradually increasing the difficulty of the questions; his roommate was doing well and was completely focused on the task at hand, his countenance so serious he was almost burning a hole in the middle of his desk. After the sixth question the playboy decided to prank his pair to make him loose up a bit; he wrote a new question on a blank page, this time from a subject that their class would only officially study in three months, and handed the paper to Peter, already expecting to see within seconds the other's face begin to writhing in despair at not being able to understand the question.

The amusement already playing on Tony's brown eyes vanished completely when he saw Peter calmly observe the question, write a long equation on the sheet and return it in less than three minutes.

The formula used was correct, as was the structure of the equation and the result; he had it right.

"What's it?" The 24-year-old man asked, frowning. "I did something wrong?"

"No... You did it right; it's correct." Tony spoke without any jest or humor in his voice.

This time he _really_ looked at his roommate and started to see that there was more to Peter Lars than what meets the eye.

~.~

Peter approached the door of the young man's room and knocked politely, hoping to not be disturbing him in the midst of a surge of creativity; glancing at his watch it said 11:00 pm, it wasn't _that_ late yet. He expected Tony to open the door, but was surprised when he heard his voice say 'come in' in an invitation.

Peter entered the room for the first time whose size and furniture was identical to his own; what set it apart and screamed the other's presence were his personal things above the nightstand, rock band posters on his walls and his study desk, which was occupied by several pieces of disassembled circuit boards that he was currently working on; more looking like a workstation from a small lab than a college student's table.

Tony's eyes were fixed on a set of wires, binding them together, but acknowledging his friend's presence with a simple wave of his free hand without diverting his attention from what he was doing. It was such a mess that even Peter, also studying electrical engineering, had to look twice to try to begin to understand what the other was working on.

"You forgot your book back in class today." Peter placed the mentioned object on the nightstand.

"Thanks." The Stark heir nodded and Peter, unable to hide and kill his curiosity, stood beside him.

"What is this? Are you trying to make a bomb?" Peter joked and he saw his roommate lips quirk up in amusement.

"It's the prototype for a project I'm working on my own; it's an AI."

Peter's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and he bent down to look more closely at the mess of wires and boards, eyes shining with excitement, and Tony let him.

"This is awesome!" Peter whispered and pointed to a specific part. "This one is the motherboard, right? You are preparing the setting before start configuring its programming."

The 24 year-old frowned then.

"But... wouldn't it be better if you installed this component here?" He indicated the position on the board. "It would allow response time to be faster, almost instantaneous if you decide to program voice commands."

Tony leaned back and watched his work in silence; nodding in the next minute, he looked back at Peter with clear satisfaction.

"It's a good suggestion." He grinned. "Looks like you have some use in this world, Lars."

Peter snorted.

"You're not that bad yourself as a human being, Stark."

Tony turned around on his seat to face him fully.

"What did you plan to do tonight until 4:00 AM?"

"Sleep?" Peter said confused and the other shook his head, amused.

"Wrong answer; go grab that chair over there and bring it here. Since you're here I could use another set of hands."

The 24-year-old watched him feigning astonishment.

"What do you mean?! The genius of whole freaking MIT wants my help with something?!"

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Go at once, kid, before I change my mind and kick you out of my room."

Peter didn't need to be told twice.

They first experience working together had gone so well that over the next week the two men transformed their entire living room into a small lab.

~.~

"I have been thinking, Pete," Tony spoke as soon as he entered their apartment, throwing his leather jacket over a chair and kicking his shoes under the table. "If we change the final part of that calculation to a simpler variation, an equation formula, we could get the result sooner."

"Now that you mentioned it, you may be right; we wouldn't have to apply those two intermediate formulas." Peter replied, his voice coming from inside his bedroom and Tony walked in that direction, strolling barefoot on the floor.

"Of course I'm right, I'm a genius!" Tony snorted. "You are too, to a lesser degree of course. Who needs books formulas anyway if we could simplify the..."

The young man's speech died when he came across his friend folding his clothes and putting them inside an open suitcase resting above the bed.

"Whoa... stop right there; where is the fire?" The playboy joked, but his eyes watched the other in concern and questioning.

Peter stopped and watched him back apologetic.

"Didn't Mr. Johnson... contact you?"

Tony frowned.

"I might have missed a call or two from him, but..."

"He got another room for me." Peter told him and his friend stared at him in silence.

A very suddenly uncomfortable silence.

Peter fumbled his hands nervous.

"I ... Huh ... I-It's in the next building ... first floor ... not far from here at all ... and .. Well ... everything is going to... go back to normal for you I guess. "

Peter forced a plastic smile that screamed fake on his face; Tony, on the other hand, blinked and shook his head.

"Shit." He muttered to himself. "I forgot about that."

He looked back at Peter.

"You will drop everything you are doing and you are going to sit your ass still on that chair over there; you are not going anywhere."

"What?!" The other exclaimed confused, watching in disbelief his roommate walk over to the bed, and to make his statement clear he sat over his friend's suitcase, earning from Peter an indignant squeal.

"My clothes! I've just ironed them!"

"I'll pay you laundry later, now quiet down."

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Tony called the Residence Hall's manager.

"Hey Johnson, its Tony... Yeah, I may have accidentally hang up on you." The Stark heir winked at Peter who kept staring at him incredulous. "I know, he told me, he's with me now... no, you can cut it off, Johnson, the kid's gonna stay with me."

His roommate's eyes widened comically and the playboy's countenance began to fill with impatience.

"I'm not kidding; quit all that shit, we're both going to graduate at the same time, really... yeah, I'm sure... I don't need you to remind me I never had roommate before."

Tony stood up and scowled.

"Fee?! What fee? He won't pay anything! You've been discounting the monthly rent of both bedrooms from my credit card all these years, you don't have to change anything, just keep discounting like you were already doing... no, it's a deal between me and him. "

The Stark heir rolled his eyes.

"I don't care how you're gonna do it, just put it in the system and done, I'm paying you for it. The kid stays with me and that's final. Ciao!"

When Tony ended the call, he looked at Peter who had his jaw on the floor.

"Don't tell me your bullshit of excuse in accepting move out is because you don't have money for this apartment's rent?" He said, knowing very well that their apartment had one of the most expensive rates on the campus.

Peter blushed hard and stuttered, utterly embarrassed.

I ... I-I really ... can't ... p-pay… you know ... you don't ... h-have to..."

"Zip it, kid; leave your worries just for study and the rest with me. And unpack your things, you're not going anywhere."

Tony shrugged and brushed it aside; his roommate looked at him astonished.

"I-I thought... you didn't want me here?"

The Stark heir sighed.

"You're a good company; at least your brain works and is helpful."

He cut the distance between them to put his hand on other's shoulder; Peter rushed forward and threw his arms around his friend in a hug. Tony immediately stiffened in surprise.

"Thank you, dude!"

"Yeah... yeah..." Tony patted his friend's back awkwardly and then started pushing him. "Now get off me, this is not a hug; I was just going to put my hand on your shoulder. We're not there yet, kid."

"Sorry!" Peter released him on the spot, but he was grinning so wide that it looked like his Christmas arrived early.

~.~

It had been a simple competition held in their classroom; the teacher would throw the questions and the students who failed the calculations would be eliminated and only the last one remaining would win. Tony didn't participate for obvious reasons, but his attention followed the performance of his colleagues and especially Peter, who passed through the stages with ease.

Tony was absolutely sure his friend would win; after actually allowing himself to know better the other man and come to genuinely enjoy his company in their 'night labs' in their apartment's living room, he knew what Peter was capable of, his mind could almost rival his own. So when only his friend and a young woman were left 'active' and the teacher put the last question on the board, Tony snorted; it would be a piece of cake; his amused countenance, however, turned to incredulous when he saw Peter fail the equation while the girl got it right, winning the competition.

Tony said nothing all day, but as soon as they both returned to the apartment at evening and the door closed behind them, the playboy snapped at last.

"Care to explain why you decided to play dumb on the last question?"

"What?!" Peter asked with surprise, but the Stark heir caught his defensive tone and pointed a hackle finger in his direction.

"You knew the answer, Peter; you made a mistake on purpose!"

"I didn't know! Really!" The other student tried to argue, but Tony cut him off.

"Don't give me that bullshit; the question our teacher asked was about the same subject I asked you the first day we studied together; and you know what's the most interesting detail of it all, Pete? I was trying to prank you with a question of a subject our class hadn't yet studied at the time. You answered it right."

Peter's eyes widened and he paled, only then realizing his own slip; suddenly nervous, he began to retreat to his room and Tony followed, not letting the matter go so easily.

"I-It was just... beginner's luck!"

"No beginner hits right an advanced end-of-course calculation." Tony shot him down impatiently. "Quit it, Pete; I don't understand! You are a freaking genius and you let it all hide under a false pretense of being an antisocial loner. What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I-I... you... You won't understand..." Peter stuttered uncomfortably, feeling himself trapped.

"Well, I'm trying to!" The other cried out, opening his arms wide. "You could easily conquer all MIT! I'd really appreciate it if you took half of that drooling crowd off me!"

"I'm not like you!"

Peter shot back angry and a heavy silence hovered above them; the 24-year-old man flinched when he saw the shadow of hurt pass through his roommate's eyes who immediately hid it behind an expression of indifference.

"Tony, I..."

"No; I got it." The other shook his head. "I know you have your secrets and you don't need to tell them to me or anyone else."

"Tony-"

_"_It's fine, really..."

"I can't stand out!" Peter blurted; his face reddened. "I-I can't... I don't want to... I'm... I panic!"

The man fell silent, feeling himself like a complete idiot, but at least it made Tony stop looking at him weirdly to start watching him in sympathy.

"Are you afraid of people, Pete?"

The Stark heir inquired softly and in the face of his roommate's terrible silence, Tony sighed, watching Peter staring at a hole down on the floor, refusing to look up at him.

"Alright..." The playboy said, approaching his friend and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, Pete; we'll work on that together."

~.~

"Have you decided what you're going to wear in the next week's conference?" Tony asked his friend as he looked at seven tie options above the living room's table, thinking which one would best match his dark suit.

Peter, who was sprawled on the couch still wearing the same blue shirt and dark trousers he had worn throughout the day, lazily reading a sports magazine, answered.

"Yeah; you're looking at it."

Tony stared at him in horror.

"You've got to be kidding with me."

That made the other look away from the magazine to watch his friend, confused.

"Why? It's the best outfit I have."

Shaking his head and without asking for permission, the playboy broke into Peter's room ignoring his protests, and opened the wardrobe's door.

"God, where are your clothes?!" Tony exclaimed in astonishment, finding only two T-shirts, one trouser and a pair of sneakers resting beside a well-worn belt and a white pajamas. "The laundry hasn't returned them yet?"

"These are all my clothes!" Peter spoke in a mixture of fury and embarrassment; he shoved the other aside and closed the wardrobe's door quickly.

Tony stared at him like if he was crazy and slowly the Stark heir shook his head in disbelief.

"My God, I'm glad I asked; it would have been a total disaster!"

Holding Peter by his shoulder, he dragged his friend out of the room, grabbed his car keys on the way and proceeded to leave the apartment.

"What are you doing?!" The 24-year-old inquired in astonishment, unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the other's grip.

"Saving you; we are going to buy you new clothes."

~.~

The car speeded down the track fast, making its way back to MIT; the dark sky spread over them in late night and Tony held the wheel with his fingers tapping it, shaking his head slightly, following the beat of the rock music he had put on to play on the radio. His eyes were fixed the road ahead, but his ears were half in the music and half in his friend, listening amused the other almost having a heart attack beside him.

"I can't believe it, Tony! You spent too much!" Peter exclaimed, his eyes almost popping out of his skull as he looked at the receipt the price of the new shirt he was wearing._ "_This shirt alone is worth more than all the things I have in my room! And you bought 15 of them! And 8 pants, 20 pairs of socks, 20 underwear, 7 coats, 5 pairs of shoes, 5 pairs of gloves, 7 belts, 10 ties, 2 sets of pajamas, not to mention the colonies!"

"Of course." The Stark heir snorted. "If I had known you had come to MIT almost naked, I would have taken you shopping earlier. How could you survive on that alone all this time?"

"I have clothes!" Peter squealed outraged, his face burning red. "I wash them!"

The man held up the receipt and would have rubbed it in his friend's face had he not been driving.

"When you talked about shopping I thought we were going to Walmart or something. Look at this!" Peter collapsed against the passenger seat. "My God... I could buy an apartment with all this money..."

"This is nothing for me, Pete; relax. I don't want you to worry about price; they're gifts from me to you. You can thank me by shutting up and accepting it already."

Tony smirked and glanced at him briefly.

"Besides, why didn't you tell me before that you wanted an apartment too? We could have taken advantage of the trip to town and already bought one for you. Now we'll have to go back tomorrow."

Peter looked at him with his jaw dropped.

"You are crazy!"

The playboy snorted.

Peter's head snapped up suddenly, his sense on alarm; eyes went to the track and his hands suddenly gripped his seat tightly.

"TONY LOOK OUT!" He screamed and the Stark heir looked back forward abruptly.

Something rushed across the bridge in front of them; Tony turned the wheel and the car veered sharply, narrowly missing a night animal.

"Fuck!" The 19-year-old shouted, gripping the steering wheel tightly and trying to regain control of the car, but it didn't give in.

They spun, the skidding sound echoing loudly and the vehicle crashed violently against the security railing, the fast-spinning wheels propelled the frame up and the car overturned, rolling down the track. Glass shattered and the iron screeched across the asphalt; Tony glimpsed in horror amidst chaos Peter's seat belt snap and his friend was thrown forward, his body breaking the windshield glass and flying to out of the car a second before the airbag activated and the playboy was almost knocked out by its force.

A new hard crash shook the entire iron structure and it finally stopped at the side of the bridge, hanging on it like a scale; the back half over the track and the front half hovering dangerously over the abyss and the river below.

Tony opened his eyes; his body was partially supported against the airbag, it protecting him and absorbing most of the impact. Blood trickled down the side of his face from the shallow cut on his forehead and the young man felt the metallic taste of blood from the unconscious bite inside of his cheek. He groaned, feeling his whole body painful, but fine; he hadn't received any serious injury.

Turning his face to the side, noticing the driver's cabin hanging over the cliff, his brown eyes went to the bridge and Tony let a strangled sob escape his contracted throat when he saw his friend's body lying limp on the asphalt.

"P-Pete... Pete... No... God... P-Pete..."

He tried to move and his whole body protested in pain, but he didn't care, his thoughts were only on his roommate.

His friend was dead because of him; his friend_ was dead_!

Tears began to slide across the young man's face and Tony howled in pain and grief; the metal frame around him protested loudly and the car leaned further toward the abyss.

And then, as some divine manifestation came in response to his lament, Tony's eyes widened in shock as he saw Peter miraculously begin to move; the other man groaned and opened his eyes, slowly turning to prop his hands on the floor and pull his body up to a kneeling position, his new clothes skinned, torn and full of blood.

"Pete..." Tony whispered breathlessly in disbelief, and as if listening to him, Peter raised his head and looked towards him; their eyes met and the 24-year-old's widened in horror.

The safety railing gave way and the car fell forward; Tony lost his breath and felt himself grow cold with terror; the impending sense of death didn't last two seconds as the car suddenly stopped, his body crashing into the airbag and the vehicle's entire frame creaked again in protest, the man's eyes stared wide down the far river below.

Why wasn't he falling?

"TONY!" Peter's voice screamed his name desperately.

What...

"TONY! GET OUT OF THE CAR!" His friend shouted at the top of his lungs. "TONY, PLEASE! TONY!"

Stunned, the Stark heir slowly flumbed for his belt and managed to loosen it and unhook his limbs from the airbag.

"TONY! WAKE UP!" Peter screamed again, his voice was submerged by the loud creak of the iron structure.

Tony opened the driver's door and immediately clung for dear life to the cabin's twisted carcass, staring at the river.

"Tony!" Peter called again his name in desperation, and snapping out of his stupor, the playboy raised his and his eyes widened in shock.

Peter, who in less than 5 minutes before had been lying on the asphalt nearly dead after being fucking throw from the car's windshield on the crash, was now standing on the edge of the bridge holding the guardrail with one hand and the car's iron frame with the other.

He was the one preventing it from falling.

"Tony! You need to jump!" Peter spoke as soon as their eyes met.

Tony stared at him paralyzed, forgetting the danger, his mind going blank.

The structure creaked again and Peter gasped with the sudden flash of pain that ran through his injured arm holding the car; the railing began to buckle and give way to the weight.

"Tony! I can't hold it anymore" Peter bellowed in desperation, his eyes pleading. "Trust me!"

"Peter..." The Stark heir mumbled.

"JUMP!" Peter screamed the second before the railing broke down and Tony did the craziest thing of his life.

He is jumped.

The structure came down and Tony felt himself being gripped tightly by the arms, his eyes watched the moment his car crashed into the water and was totally submerged by the river. With cost he diverted his attention from the fall and looked up, his eyes finding his friend, wondering again if he wasn't dead or hallucinating.

Peter watched him with clear relief on his bruised, bloody face; he was barefoot and upside down, stepping on the concrete of the bridge's botto, firmly glued on it with nothing else holding him. With an awesome strength Tony felt Peter lift him up and he watched his friend climb the wall with one hand as he held him with the other, climbing over the bridge's side and pushing them back up to the track into safety.

Tony sat stunned, his eyes watching Peter lie on the ground beside him, breathing hard; blood dripped from his wounds and spread on the asphalt filled with shards of glass.

"Hospital ... Call a hospital..." Tony mumbled, unable to think straight, staring at all the blood soaking his friends ripped clothes.

_There was so much blood..._

Awkwardly he fumbled his pants pocket looking for his phone, but Peter held his hand in his tremulous one.

"N-No... No hospital ... Please ..." He begged. "You saw... what I... can do... they'll... kill me..."

Tony's frightened face was the last thing Peter saw before he lost consciousness.

~.~

When Peter slowly and gradually regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was lying on a soft bed and wearing only his pants; his aching body was partially covered by a thin sheet and the sound of rain fell heavily outside the room which was covered in semi-darkness; the only source of illumination was a small lamp resting on the nightstand.

As soon as his eyes adjusted, the man realized that he was back in his room at the Residence Hall's apartment and that his wounds were cleaned, treated and bandaged. Hours should have passed as his fast-healing had already done a great deal of the work and the most apparent cuts had already sealed and the bruises were beginning to show signs of disappearing.

He looked up and saw Tony sitting in a very close chair, completely awake and watching him back with serious and concerned eyes. He had changed into a black ACDC T-shirt and dark trousers, his light injuries were also treated and the cut over his right eye had a small dressing. He looked fine, though.

"I called my driver Happy to pick us up and he brought us here; it was a hard work in getting you back into the Residence Hall without being seen. You were unconscious for 8 hours."

He fell silent, frowning deeply.

"You... freaked me out, Pete..."

The man in bed sighed softly and looked away at the wall.

"I'm sorry." Peter spoke softly and raspy, his throat dry; Tony reached him a glass of water from the nightstand and helped him drink it.

When it was over, Tony watched his friend again, his mind fumbling with the words that Peter knew would come.

"What are..." The Stark heir stopped and grimaced; he didn't want the other to think he was calling him a freak or something, and changed the way he elaborated the question. "How... can you do... these things?"

Peter watched his hands in silence, resting above sheets; he never told anyone about his secret, he was taught to keep it as if his life depended on it, and it really depended... But now Tony knew and he had no other choice; it was either reveal his powers or to let his friend died in the fall.

Hehad no choice but to tell the truth.

"My last name is not Lars." He spoke in a whisper, but his confession sounded loud in the silence of the room even with the sound of constant rain. "My real name is Peter Parker."

He took a deep, shaky breath.

"My parents were scientists, working for the government in a secret agency conducting experiments and chemical testing on biological weapons, sometimes designed to find a cure for some types of viruses and sometimes manipulated to be used as a coercive tool in interrogation of high security prisoners."

Peter ran a hand over his face, sweaty and nervous.

"I was born... diagnosed with a degenerative disease that would manifest throughout my childhood; I wouldn't have many years to live…" Peter said softly. "My parents secretly did everything to prevent the onset of symptoms and save me. They broke protocols and rules for access government's formulas and resources and insisted until they could create a cure. "

The man looked up at his friend; the other's countenance serious and indecipherable.

"They performed a genetic mutation experiment with a spider, I don't know the species' name, but it had the quality of high regeneration power and they worked on it, and when it was done they let it bite me. It was a risky test, I could have died, but they didn't have much time left and I'd die anyway if they hadn't tried… After several sick days my body accepted the new genes and my DNA mutated, constantly regenerating the cells affected by this disease and stagnating its progress. It sleeps inside me now, no longer able to harm me... as a side effect I ended up inheriting some peculiarities of spiders."

Peter shrugged.

"I can climb walls, I have a lot of strength, I can regenerate faster than a normal person, I have a 'sense' that warns me when there is a danger nearby and I have a keener hearing... that's how I heard about what happened to your parents and I noticed the first signs of the panic attack you were going to suffer that day... That's how I truly knew it."

He looked at his roommate apologetic for eavesdropping unintentionally, but Tony didn't give it any thought.

"It's amazing... your skills .." The Stark heir muttered, moved; he looked straight into his friend's eyes gratefully. "You... saved my life... again."

"You are my friend, Tony... This secret is no more worth than your life."

"Why do you hide it? What happened to your parents if they violated protocols?" Tony questioned in alarm and when Peter looked away again he felt the upcoming sensation of dread.

"The agency found them... and finished them." Peter swallowed hard. "I saw everything... I only managed to escape because of my powers..."

The heavy silence that fell into the room lasted only a minute as the man went on.

"I am an unauthorized experiment... considered their property. I ran away to my uncles' house and they took care of me during my childhood, they constantly moved to protect me. They always taught me to hide my skills and keep absolute secrecy."

Peter rubbed his face again and said bitterly.

"My uncle died in a robbery when I was thirteen and my aunt disappeared when I turned fifteen... We had fought for something stupid, I went for a walk and when I came back our apartment was overturned... I know they caught her, I don't even know if she's still alive... I've been living alone ever since."

Tears appeared on his eyes, but he took a deep breath and didn't let them fall; the memory of his family still ached deep inside him.

"They are still looking for me... that's why I do nothing to make me stand out... that's why I use fake documents and another name to get to study. It was my aunt's dream to have me graduated from college and I want to do this for her."

Peter's eyes met Tony's with a defeated, pleading look.

"I've had to transfer seven times from college and now it's only six months left to finish the course... Please... I don't want to have to transfer again..."

Tony's heart broke; his friend's words, sincere and pleading, filled with fear at his roommate's reaction; it was the simplest request anyone had ever asked him in his life, so deep it made Tony rise from his seat, sit on the bed next to his friend and embrace him.

"I won't tell anyone, Pete... You don't have to run away anymore." The Stark heir put all of himself in the oath. "You're going to realize your aunt's dream; we're going to graduate together."

Peter's tears fell and Tony cradled his friend gently, resting the man's head on his shoulder, realizing that the other only now was letting go of all that he had accumulated within himself for years, silently enduring his suffering past.

"We... are we there...?" Peter asked in a broken whisper.

"Yeah buddy... We are there." Tony's answer didn't waver.

~.~

Tony entered his friend's room absently, without knocking.

"Pete, do you happen to know where my book of calculus is... HOLY FREAKING!" The 19-year-old shouted out when instead of finding his roommate in bed, he found him lying on the ceiling on his white pajamas, reading magazine in semi-darkness.

Peter stared down at him in concern as the other staggered and leaned against the wall with a trembling hand on his chest, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Hey Tony, are you okay?"

The Stark heir glared at him.

"Don't you fucking do this to me again!"

"What?" Peter asked confused.

"That crap you're doing up there! Crawling walls dressed in white you look like that creepy dead girl from that movie; Samantha? Samara? Whatever!"

His friend widened his eyes and blushed.

"Oh, this? Sorry." Peter said sheepishly. "I... It's ... huh... easier to sleep like this."

Tony stared up at him incredulous; shaking his head, he started walking towards the exit.

"Alright, spidey-boy. Forget it, I give up! Tomorrow I study, now I'll get a drink, I need it more."

~.~

In the last month before their graduation ceremony, Tony grew his beard and after a week began shave it partly, leaving a perfectly drawn goatee on his face.

"What do you think of it, Pete?" The 20 year-old asked grinning and Peter nodded approvingly.

"You look like a respectable business man, Mr. Stark; I think you might already start thinking in settle down and finding a woman to marry."

Tony barked out a laugh and threw a cushion at his snickering friend.

The days passed quickly after classes were over and the evening before the long-awaited ceremony, the pair of friends were enjoying the last night they would slept in their apartment. They were sitting comfortably on the couch drinking the last two cans of beer left in Tony's secret hiding place; leave no evidence behind, he said.

"The year went by very fast." Tony grinned and joked. "Gonna miss this break."

"Break?" Peter repeated, laughing a little. "Only if it's for you; I spent the whole year sweating studying like crazy."

"I won't have time to breathe after tomorrow." Tony sighed and leaned against the couch. "As soon as I get my degree and exit this place I am officially taking over Stark Industries as its CEO."

"You've got a very busy schedule." Peter nodded in understanding; his friend's world would be turned upside down entirely; no wonder he was stressed behind his calm countenance.

"I've been thinking..." Tony began to say softly, his face devoid of joking. "This company operated in my father's hands as a weapons manufacturer as its main activity... I don't want this to be my legacy, I am not like him. I have been thinking of changing its core business to producing new technologies through clean energy. It's going to change the whole structure and bite the investors on their butts, but I know how to make it work."

Peter smiled at his friend's sincerity; he appreciated the great trust the other placed in him.

"You are going to change the world, Tony, I don't doubt that... If there is a possibility that someone can discover, invent and innovate a better future for everyone, there is no better person to do it than you."

Peter spoke truthfully and Tony's eyes darkened with emotion, truly touched; his friend's words gave him the strength and courage to uphold his decision and face the initial negativity he was sure would come when he made the announcement.

"What are you going to do, Peter, after you graduate?" Tony asked when he could find his own voice again.

"I still don't know." The other man shrugged naturally, a quiet smile on his lips. "I haven't really thought about that yet."

The smile on Tony's face disappeared; it was then that he remembered that his friend was a fugitive from the government and had no family.

Peter had no one.

The Stark heir's face filled with determination and approaching the other, sitting next to him, Tony threw an arm around Peter's shoulder in a half-hug and told him, meaning each of his words.

"Whenever you need it, no matter what time or moment, don't forget, Pete, you have a friend in me."

~.~

"Peter!" Tony shouted his name over the crowd.

There were so many people at the graduation ceremony, uniformed gown students, MIT teachers and staff, surrounded by parents, relatives and friends; the campus was in chaos, totally unrecognizable compared to the quieter study routine Peter had adapted to during the year.

His friend appeared beside him the next second, his lips parted with a wide smile that barely fit in his face. He held both diplomas in one hand, one in physics and the other in electrical engineering, while with the other he wrapped his arm around his roommate's shoulders, embracing him radiantly.

"We did it, Pete! We did it! Look at you now! Gonna shove it right into their faces!"

Peter laughed and punched him playfully; he stared at his own diploma in awe. He had done it; even if the surname wasn't Parker, but Lars, he still did it. He realized his and his aunt's dream and graduated in engineering. He looked back at the Stark heir and grinned like his friend.

"Look at you, man! I don't know how you can even hold so much weight on a single hand." Peter joked, but his face changed to a happy and sincere smile. "Congratulations, Tony, you really deserve it."

Tony smiled back, that genuine smile that he reserved only for their friendship; He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when another man appeared beside him and put a hand on his shoulder without looking much in Peter's direction.

"There you are, Tony; I've been looking for you all this time!"

"Obadiah?" The Stark heir spoke slightly surprised in seeing him.

"The only one." The man confirmed and began pulling him in another direction where a group of men were waiting for them; The young man glanced quickly at Peter, who gestured for him to go on, it's okay, while Obadiah continued to speak. "This is Mr. Andrew and his managers from Artlex, they are strong partners with Stark Industries and now that you will soon taking over as CEO..."

Peter watched him go and begin to be introduced to the corporate world that would be part of him for the rest of his life, and like the time when he had just met his friend, Peter couldn't help but ruminate on who he was.

Tony ... was exactly the person he wanted to be and what the world needed him to be, and every single word they called him was true. He was a genius, billionaire and playboy, owner of major future projects for science and philanthropy that will lead the world to a transformation, and that's was the crowds expected of him.

During that year Peter had found in Tony something he had long desired to be able to find in his life; real friendship and fellowship, but their worlds were completely different and stood far away from each other... and only then Peter's smile faltered and his countenance was filled with the shadow of sadness.

Watching his friend, Peter realized that he would never be able to be a part of Tony's life.

He silently drifted away alone, disappearing into the crowd.

~.~

When, two hours later, Tony entered their apartment for the last time, he was expecting to find his roommate, as they had agreed earlier to say goodbye, but the moment he stepped into the living room, the quiet atmosphere of the room that was more organized than usual, he knew something was wrong.

"Pete?" He called and when he received no immediate response, Tony's countenance lost any joy from his graduation ceremony; he threw the diplomas on the table and rushed across the place to his friend's room.

"Peter ?!" The engineer called him again; his voice echoed loudly in the empty, tidy room.

There were no books scattered about the nightstand or geeky movie posters hanging on the wall; everything was clean and Tony jerked open the wardrobe's door; inside was empty.

"No..." He shook his head in disbelief; he couldn't believe it.

"Peter!" Tony shouted loudly again and searched wildly, calling his friend's name several times; inside the small kitchen, the private bathroom, in his own room where he found all his things untouched as he had left them the day before.

Everything was there but his friend... and when the realization of what had happened covered him with a cold mantle, Tony collapsed against the couch with his head in his hands; both diplomas were long forgotten above the table.

~.~

Peter arrived at his new rented apartment early in the morning; it was a very simple place in Queens with one bedroom and one bathroom and little furniture; the basics needed to live in and perfect for the little money he still had with him that he saved during the year in MIT thanks to Tony's help.

The man carried with him all his belongings in three suitcases and a backpack and he watched the small, tight and slightly dusty room that would be the beginning of his new life, or more assertively speaking, his bitter fall back into his true reality.

MIT was a dream; a dream that he managed to live for himself and his aunt, but would now forcibly be kept distant in the past because of his present situation. He was a nobody, a fugitive, graduated with a fake last name that could never let him live up to the achievements that the diploma in his backpack should have given him, because Peter Parker officially didn't exist.

He spent the day locked up in the small apartment, trying to ward off the shadow of the depression that began to insist falling upon him, and as the hours passed, Peter remembered his family, Tony, and the words of his deceased uncle telling him that he shouldn't regard his situation as something terrible, but a different way of living and learning in life. Telling him that the skills he possessed were regarded by his pursuers as a danger to society, but in the future if Peter so decided, they could be hope for people.

That night Peter watched on television the official announcement of Anthony Stark as the new CEO of Stark Industries and all news channels broadcast his speech, astonishing the entire world as he announced the profound changes and transformations his company would undergo under his management, with unwavering strength and conviction.

That same evening Peter also made a decision; while Tony took over SI for the purpose of using his company's influence and power to help people in the light, Peter for the first time dressed on the mask of his homemade suit determined to use his special powers to help them in the shadows.

While Tony Stark came down from the stage being applauded by a standing wide audience, Peter alone walked the length of the neighborhood, climbing and jumping from building to building; while the billionaire flashed grins to several cameras and posed for photos alongside celebrities and shaking hands with influential people, Peter stopped his first robbery and saved a girl from attempted murder in a Queens' alley.

And when on one side of the city in the wee hours of dawn several glasses of champagne were raised high in a toast, on the other side a 25-year-old man finally returned to his humble apartment, wiping the blood that fell from his wounds.

~.~

Peter sighed dejected as he sat on the bench in a public park, watching people pass by without actually seeing them. His head was still at the last attempted job interview and the manager's voice still telling him 'sorry, Mr. Lars, but you unfortunately have no qualifications for this job'.

He sincerely lost count of how many 'no's' he's got in his face for the past three months, weighing in his head the rent of the apartment that needed to be paid in that same afternoon and the money in his pocket that wasn't enough to buy an afternoon snack. The man felt a deep bitterness of his present situation, of his life, of the way people strolled in the park living their normal lives while he couldn't even get a decent job; sometimes it was lack of knowledge, sometimes lack of experience, and what irritated him most, lack of 'study'. It always made him look at his diploma in his room wishing he could shove it in their faces, but he couldn't, because he couldn't stand out.

He glanced at a newsprint lying on the ground nearby and saw Anthony Stark's face projected on the cover, the sign announcing the astonishing growth of Stark Industries following the implementation of the innovations and changes announced by its new CEO.

Peter smiled with a hint of sadness; at least his friend could change the world with his own hands and he was genuinely happy for his success.

Spiderman left early that night to patrol; as he ran, jumped and climbed from building to building, watching the night city looking for potential crimes, Peter didn't think about the problems of his life, allowing himself to enjoy the great feeling he felt every time he patrolled. It was the only moment he felt at peace with his powers. He didn't think he had nothing to eat at home or that he would probably be kicked out of the apartment with his stuff the next morning; he jumped and soared into the air, letting the sound of the night city completely fill his thoughts and sensations.

When he jumped to a higher building, easily climbing its entire side until he climbed on the top, Peter stopped short before performing a crazy jump for the next small building across the street when in the corner of his vision he glimpsed a small strange package lying partly hidden on the floor, and he stared at it in curiosity.

Could it be drugs? But who would hide drugs in such a difficult place to reach? Peter looked around and shrugged. People had every odd habit nowadays ... He took the package with full intention of leaving it in an easier place for the police to find, but saw a small note fixed on it's top written in printed letters.

_To my friend Spiderman. Please accept it; it's a no-return gift._

What the hell?

Peter opened the package and almost died of fright.

"Holy crap!" He half-shouted, half-chocked, almost dropping to the floor money,_ lots of money; _about 50 notes and none less than 100.

~.~

It wasn't only once that Peter found such 'gifts' scattered in various unusual places around the city; he usually saw them on top of buildings or bridges where no ordinary person usually goes and all the packages were intended for him, with notes above written 'To my friend Spiderman'.

It was creepy... sort of... someone wishing to help him that way and Peter seriously didn't know what to think about it.

All the packages had a sum of money, a lot of money, and he didn't dare to pick another one after he had accepted the first one to pay for his apartment's rent. If he gathered all the packages to his humble living place, it would appear that he had done a bank robbery or something. The anonymous help had held him for another three months until the money was gone and the hero forced himself to accept a second package, finding its spot replaced the following night.

Then there was this time he managed to stop a bank robbery at dawn and the camera footage was on the next day's news showing one of the robbers pointing a gun at Spiderman's direction and firing; the shot grazed him on the left arm. It was nothing, really; in one day's rest his injury was almost healed, but still on his next patrol on the top of a building he found a briefcase full of all kinds of medicines and utensils to treat injuries; some weren't even sold in the conventional pharmacy.

And that was the drop of water.

Peter got a piece of paper and a pen and quickly wrote a message to his unknown well-doer.

_Hi there! Sir... huh... lady? I don't know who you are, but thanks for... all of this._

_Really, you don't need to do this... I don't know why you would... did I save you or something?_

Peter left the note pinned with his web to the wall and accepted the briefcase; two nights later when he patrolled the place again, he glimpsed that in place of his crumpled sheet of notebook he had left there, now was an elegant black and gold envelope set. He dropped from the air beside it and stared incredulous at the envelope, barely believing that this person really bothered to leave him an answer.

Peter took off his mask and the envelope in his hand and his eyes widened; Instead of finding printed letters, he saw the elegant, familiar handwriting that, while unsigned, he knew belonged to only one person in that world.

_You saved me, more than once, from death, loneliness, selfishness; you taught me to see ordinary people and the world through new eyes._

_I once told you that whenever you need you would have a friend in me. Please don't forget that, okay?_

_If you need me, you know where to find me._

~.~

The first job he got came after 6 months of searching; it was a temporary waiter service at events that would take place once or twice a week at various locations in New York. His Parker luck, as he usually called the less fortunate events that happened in his life, threw him at his first event which turned out to be a dinner for 500 people from USA's high society.

Peter prayed silently that none of the guests were anyone regarding the secret agency charged with searching and capturing him, but as the night progressed he didn't recognize any guest and by some divine miracle or fate's luck, his humble service made the men and women take from his tray their red wine glasses without looking directly at him, totally immersed in their conversations, for which Peter was grateful.

Still four hours to wrap up the night, as he bent over a table to pour two glasses on it_,_ Peter raised his face and blanched; across the room he saw a man rise from his seat while laughing with other guests; the same man who 15 years ago had broken into his house and sealed his parent's fate.

Before the other man could even look away from his table, Peter was already hurrying through the hall in the middle of guests towards the nearest exit.

He needed to leave; he needed to leave now!

He dodged the people in his path as fear seized him, making him completely forget about the tray of glasses he still carried; his eyes were on the front door and just as Peter crossed it, another person appeared coming from the opposite direction. The two men collided with each other hard and crashed into the ground amid broken glasses and spilled wine, staining the rich man's dark suit irreparably.

Peter looked up mortified and his eyes met Tony's, the other's irritation turning with surprise, immediately recognizing him.

"Peter..." The billionaire called his name a second before chaos erupted around them.

Several shouts echoed at the same time in alarm; someone shoved the waiter off the Stark Industries' CEO; ten pairs of hands helped the man to his feet and a crowd of people surrounded Tony, blocking his view as he tried to find his missing friend; he shoved people out of his way and they stared back at him in confusion.

Peter was stunned; his fear of being discovered was replaced by shock when he reencountered Tony; he felt someone grabbing his necklace, dragging him away from the hall and out of the building through a service door in the heavy rain. He raised his head when he felt the water drench his eyes and Peter met his boss's countenance; the man punched him hard in the face, sending him crashing against the dumpsters and falling into the ground in a wide pool of water.

"You're fired, Lars! You are fucking fired!"

The man shouted, spitting at him, tremulous with fury.

"You've destroyed my business and fucking ruined me! You piece of shit! After Stark's done with me, my company will never be hired again because of you!"

Peter's sense flared, but he didn't move and received the violent kick straight in his face; his head snapped back and crashed into the bin and he screamed, his nose breaking with the blow and his entire face exploded with pain. The man fell sideways, dipping his face into the pool of water that turned red with his blood.

"You are a nobody! Useless fucking garbage!"

His sense flared again, but Peter still didn't react and the man kicked him over and over and over again, without ceasing, totally succumbed to his rage; Peter felt his ribs crack under the constant pressure, and yet he didn't react.

He was Peter now, not Spiderman; he was an ordinary and lonely guy who was struggling to survive in the vast world and not the crime-fighting night hero who could rise from a beating as if he hadn't even taken it at all, and Spiderman didn't hit innocent people for personal reasons.

Peter didn't react, receiving the blows directly and his entire body exploded with pain, the blood rushing hot in his veins and out of him; his consciousness began to fail, coming on and off.

The service door smashed open again and Tony Stark rushed through it; the billionaire's eyes widened at the sight and darkened with barely contained fury. He shoved away the event's manager and the man fell to the ground and watched in awe as Stark Industries CEO kneel on the dirty, the rain peering down hard upon him, and cradled the beaten up waiter in his arms, not caring about the blood that soaked his expensive already ruined suit.

"Peter! Talk to me! Pete!"

Tony caressed his face, scared; there was so much blood... Just like that night.

"... er ...! God ... Pete...!"

Peter's brown eyes flickered, staring up but not really seeing him, unfocused through the rain, and then his head rolled to the side and he lost consciousness.

~.~

Peter jerked suddenly wake two hours later in a totally different unknown place; it was a large room with cream-colored walls and dark marble stone floors, with little but exquisite furniture and landscaped paintings hanging from the walls; there was a large glass door in the back that gave a perfect view of the dark sky.

He was lying shirtless on a king-sized bed, still wearing the same trousers he had worn to work, there were several bruises scattered across his chest and cuts that were clean and bandaged_; _he wasn't in pain, but his ever-quick reflexes for the first time failed him as he tried to get up and a strong sense of numbness blocked his body movements.

Peter's fear during the event was nothing compared to the sheer terror that fell upon him now.

Someone drugged him!

Peter despaired; someone had drugged him! He had been caught! The man who killed his parents found him and finally managed to capture him; now they would kill him.

He began to hyperventilate; with great effort the man was able to rise into a semi-seated position and only then realized the IV attached to his right arm, injecting him with drugs as the device clutched in his hand monitored his ever-faster heartbeat. .

He needed to get out! He needed to scape now! They would kill him; he needed to move now!

Peter began to feel the panic's symptoms seize him for the first time in over five years and despair made him to push himself forward to run, but his slow, heavy movements made him stumble over his own legs and the IV wires on his arm pulled him down; the man lay sprawled on the marble floor and all the equipment attached to him collided beside him in a loud crash.

They would kill him!

Peter crawled on the floor, his growing fear and anxiety quickening the blood in his veins and partially dispelling the immense numbness of drugs; his vision cleared for a brief moment, then the air lacked in his lungs and his world darkened. The man began to choke the moment a door slammed open, someone rushed inside and knelt beside him, cradling his body in their arms.

"Peter! Calm down; you're safe! Focus on my voice, breathe!"

Even in the midst of his crisis, Peter recognized his friend.

"T-To… ny... y...?"

"Yeah, it's me." The billionaire confirmed it; he hugged Peter's trembling body against his chest, steadying him carefully. "You're with me; we're at my penthouse in the Stark Tower. This is the guest room I've prepared for you. Can you try to grasp this description for me?"

Tony asked gently, helping him form a mental security image to calm his friend by grounding him in the present. Peter nodded and slowly the crisis began to pass, leaving him exhausted; the numbing effects of the drug injected to him, probably some kind of medicine, returned with double force, making him dizzy and inert in the younger man's arms.

"Hey... Take it easy, Pete..." Tony told him in concern. "You took a pretty ugly beating out there; your recovery factor is not fully right yet, we had to use a stronger medicine to lessen the pain. Unfortunately it is not any kind of drug that works in your body. It is helping you now; the numbing effects will pass as soon as your healing goes back to work as it should. My best doctor is taking care of it and rest assured, your secret is safe. "

Peter struggled to raise his head from his friend's shoulder to look at his face; the billionaire was modestly dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, his hair was messy and his eyes had dark circles under that showed lack of sleep, and the man winced in guilt, knowing that he was probably the cause.

Tony's friendly eyes watched him back with nothing but concern and kindness, but Peter's joy at seeing him again was gone the next instant and he began to shake his head, telling him in a raspy voice, his throat dry.

"You... shouldn't have... brought me here..."

Tony frowned deeply.

"I wouldn't risk leaving you anywhere, let alone bleed out and die on me."

"T-this is... dangerous, T-Tony..."

"Dangerous is what you've been doing all this months alone, Pete." The billionaire said without hiding his frustration. "You have been wandering around every night risking getting yourself killed dressing only an 'onesie ' which is thinner than my bed sheets!"

Peter looked at him with pleading eyes.

"You can't... associate with m ... if they find out... if the government finds out..."

"They can't reach me; I own one of the biggest companies in the entire world and I have contacts in all kinds of places, even within the government." Tony held the other man by his shoulders. "There's no other place safer than here."

"No... Tony … No ... You can't shield me... your reputation... will be ruined because of me."

Peter shook his head and tried to pull away, but his friend held him back in his embrace.

"Your friendship is more important to me than all this." Tony said the very words Peter had said to him the night he had discovered his secret, and his friend stared back reduced into silence, eyes wide in shock.

The billionaire's gaze softened, looking at him gently, he went on softly.

"Pete... you are my friend and I care about you... I know it's been years since you lost your family and that you have struggled to deal alone with all the shit life's throwing at you, but you are not alone anymore. I want you to stay with me and work as my personal assistant at SI; I sort out all the documentation. You have a brilliant mind and you were the only person at MIT who could truly keep up with my reasoning. You don't have to run away anymore and live in fear that if you sleep too much one night you will wake up captured by them, you don't have to sell yourself so cheaply when your knowledge can rival's the greatest minds. I will build a better and decent suit with monitoring and protection protocols if you want to continue helping people as Spiderman, and_ I will help you, _because you are _my friend, _and you are Not. Alone. Anymore."

Tony put a lot of emphasis on his last words; Peter continued to stare at him eyes wide in astonishment and dark with emotion; his words fled, but his brown eyes, unhindered as an open book, showed all his fears and his daring growing hope and Tony felt his own eyes fill with tears.

"Oh, Pete..." He whispered. "Once you helped me when I needed it most... Please, let me repay it; let me help you."

The tears slid free across Peter's face and the man trembled, felling his friend embracing him tighter, and he clung to him for dear life. With their roles reversed, Tony whispered those same caring words with the same patience and kindness that Peter had once told him in the past.

"It's ok ... you're not alone ... I've got you, Pete ... I've got you ... I'm never gonna let you go."


	3. Through Time

Hi guys! Thanks so much for reading and sharing with me your opinion about my story! I'm glad you're liking it :) This chapter's introductory phrase gives a major tip of the plot, so if you haven't seen this series first movie yet I highly recommend it, it's awesome! Also, I'm not taking into consideration the events of Spiderman: Far From Home. Please, forgive the small errors that I know must be hiding around here!

Hey, within this week I will be posting a short new story for Avengers, also centered on Tony and Peter, called Healing Was Never Easy; you are very welcome to check it out too if you wish! Just finishing some small details.

Happy New Year! :)

* * *

**Infinite Possible Ways to Meet You**

_Through Time_

~.~

_"Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?"_

Tony Stark - Avengers: Endgame

~.~

_The small clock rested above a small decorating table in the living room, on the far wall near the vast glass window overlooking the sea; its sound echoed loudly in the silence that prevailed in the place and the uninterrupted 'tic, tac' continued with a constant rhythm for hours without any disturbance._

_As night covered sky's expanse and plunged the mansion in shadows, the little clock disappeared completely into the darkness and only its sound still echoed in the tranquil environment, until suddenly, nearby, the loud clattering sound of tires skidding on the asphalt completely covered the 'tic, tac' and went on for seconds that seemed to last forever until it stopped abruptly. In the silence that followed, the clock continued working in solitude._

_Outside the mansion, Tony Stark casually stepped out of the newly parked Audi with a grin on his lips; the billionaire straightened the collar of the expensive black shirt he wore and glanced back inside the vehicle, watching the woman who was still grabbing the passenger seat for dear life, her blue eyes wide and frightened._

_He snorted amused._

_"Why are you so terrified, Potts? Looks like you saw a ghost." The man joked. "I told you I could safely park at high speed."_

_Pepper glared at him._

_"I don't care if you're my boss, Mr. Stark; I'll never get in a car again if you're behind the wheel!"_

_The engineer raised an eyebrow._

_"I could give you a raise."_

_"Fire me; this is suicide!"_

_Tony chuckled._

_"You know I won't do that. Next time, drive with Happy, he will arrive in..." He looked at his watch. "... five minutes, will safely park in a very slowly, boring way, meeting your standards. He lost the race and will pay for the ice cream."_

_Stretching, the man began to walk towards the mansion's entrance and did not look back as he spoke._

_"You'll miss the thrill of driving with me, Potts."_

_"I prefer my life, thank you!" She called out behind him and he shook his head, amused._

_The billionaire entered his home, tossed his car keys on the table next to the clock and standing in the middle of his living room he frowned at the darkness and silence that inhabited the place._

_"JARVIS, come on, stop being an ass and turn on the lights."_

_When the AI didn't answer him right away, Tony realized something was off._

_"JARVIS?" The engineer called again without getting an answer._

_He walked to the hidden panel on the wall, removed the fake decoration cover and slid his fingers expertly over the keypad, entering the master code of access to the mansion system; his eyebrows shot up in surprise, eyes stared in astonishment at the information displayed on the screen._

_"What the hell?!" He whispered shocked._

_The AI was disabled 10 minutes ago by an access made inside the mansion, using its master password._

_He walked a few steps away from the panel, stunned._

_That... That was impossible. No one knew his password... NO ONE! It was a complex sequence that went through several layers of authentication to gain access to the system, and he had been out all day with Pepper and Happy. How did..._

_"Tony..." A voice called him breathlessly behind him and the engineer turned around abruptly._

_There was an unknown man standing in his living room just a couple of few feet away. The billionaire cursed to himself; he had been so distracted by JARVIS's unusual absence that he hadn't noticed the thief's presence, who dressed a black garment and his body almost totally mixed with the darkness of the room._

_The engineer remembered that Happy and Pepper would soon enter the mansion; he needed to be careful, buy time and find a way to alert them. Slowly Tony raised his hands in surrender as he watched and analyzed the other man, calculating his profile and possibilities for the situation; with JARVIS disabled, his reaction alternatives were cut short almost entirely._

_"Alright... Let's be calm to sort this out." Tony broke the silence. "I admit that you are very smart to have come so far as to disable my AI and this is no easy task... So... what do you want? If it's money you know this is no problem for me and we can end this quickly and easily, really..."_

_While speaking, the billionaire observed the intruder; he was a man who had a height similar to his own, dressed in fine clothes, jeans, shoes and a long sleeved shirt that Tony could tell by the eye they were from stores where he used to buy his own clothes. The man had a silver watch on his left wrist that curiously had a different designer. Okay, the stranger _didn't look_ like a thief; on the contrary, he had good looks and seemed to have a good background to be a thief, but still..._

_If he were a thief, why he would be surrendering his identity so easily, as he wore no mask to hide his face? He was a young man between 25 and 30 years old, with pale skin, short dark hair and... Tony's eyebrows twitched annoyed... a goatee exactly like his own._

_Seriously, was this guy a weird fan stalker?_

_The joke that started to come up in his throat died before it reached his lips when their eyes locked on each other._

_The stranger's eyes were so full of strong emotion that he literally seemed to be struggling to stay upright; it was like a whirlwind of clouds colliding with each other on the brown irises. Tony watched him without understanding; the other's gaze was so open and sincere that the billionaire shuddered, clearly uncomfortable, feeling himself being 'drunk' by the other's gaze that seemed to observe every detail of him._

_Suddenly the stranger stepped forward and Tony stepped back two steps, and that stopped the other._

_"Whoa, stop! Stop! You, stay right there! I don't know who the fuck you are, but you broke into my home and I will call the security..." The words fled from the engineer when he saw the tears slide on the other man's face, and Tony stared at it completely caught off guard._

_What the hell is going on?_

_The man advanced again before Tony could have any reaction; in the blink of an eye he was on the billionaire's side and the engineer raised his hands in anticipation of the attack. The stranger hugged him tightly and their sudden encounter made them both fall to the floor._

_"Happy! Pepper! Call the Cops!" The billionaire shouted aloud, trying to push the other off him before he could take out any hidden weapon from somewhere, but the man's grip was so strong that it didn't give out, and Tony lost the fight when he realized he had no strength to overcome it._

_With resignation, Tony also realized that t stranger did not attempt to attack him; the man just hugged him and wept, resting his head on his shoulder and wetting the billionaire's expensive suit in a never-ending river of tears, and Tony remained motionless, for the first time in years, not really knowing what to do._

_Tony awkwardly reached out to pat the man's shoulders as he listened to the sound of Pepper and Happy's fast footsteps approaching the mansion's entrance; the stranger's watch began to ring an alarm and he looked up and stared at Tony with pure joy. When the front door suddenly opened and before the billionaire's incredulous eyes, the man fell apart into thousands of light particles that completely disappeared in the next second._

_His friends entered the living room and stood, surprised and confused, watching the engineer sprawled on the floor, pale, his suit wet, eyes wide and completely speechless._

~.~

_He searched inside the entire network of official and non-legal data, making JARVIS run a face recognition scan in all types of government and non-government files, but he didn't find a match in any of them; it was as if the unknown man literally didn't exist._ _He often wondered if it had really happened, but the camera footage of the mansion that captured the images even with the A.I.'s deactivation proved that the weird encounter hadn't been only in his mind._ _Time passed and, although not completely forgotten, the event ended up being kept in the far corner of his mind._

_Until the following year, when the mysterious man appeared again._

_Tony at that time was alone in Malibu's mansion, as Pepper had left with Happy to run some errands he had requested. The billionaire had taken a break from his lab work to get a snack from the kitchen._ _He was already coming back when he nearly choked on the cookie he was eating when his eyes caught the same guy from last year sitting serenely on the balcony as if he weren't closer to the fall of several feet into the rocks constantly bathed by the ocean._

_When the stranger saw him his face lit up and he waved excitedly as if he'd found his best friend of years._

_"Hey Tony!"_

_After overcoming the coughing crisis did the engineer open the glass door, staring incredulously at the other, completely forgetting his own safety in dealing with the alleged 'thief'? 'Stalker'?_

_"Who the hell are you and how did you even get there?!"_

_"I climbed." The other answered as if that were obvious and Tony kept staring at him, now clearly finding him crazy._

_Then, as if realizing a very important fact, the stranger facepalmed and jumped suddenly, falling in front of the billionaire who jumped, startled. The stranger extended his hand with a large grin on his face._

_"I forgot we haven't met yet at this time; I'm Peter." He then blushed slightly, but didn't withdraw his hand. "Huh ... sorry for our last meeting... it's been a long time since I saw you... the emotion got over me."_

_Tony kept staring at his hand without moving and the man who named himself Peter rolled his eyes._

_"You know, Tony, this is the part where you reach out to greet me."_

_"You broke into my house in the middle of the night twice! You deactivated my super advanced AI and you are a weirdo stalker copying my goatee that has no life of his own." The engineer spoke incredulously. "I'm not gonna take your hand."_

_If Peter's face was already excited, Tony's phrase made it glow, the smile so wide that it should hurt._

_"Man! This is sooooooooo awesome! I had forgotten that you were such an ass!"_

_The engineer glared._

_"Alright, the show is over! Get the hell out of my house now or I'm going to call the police."_

_"You will not do that." The other man spoke, not hiding his amusement and Tony began to feel the irritation boil inside him._

_"Give me a clever reason not to kick you off that balcony into the rocks."_

_"You're not a killer, Tony." The sudden seriousness the other spoke in those words caught the billionaire off guard. Then the relaxed countenance took Peter's face again and he smiled wide. "Besides, I have a good reason! I'm from the future!"_

_Tony busted out laughing and Peter glared at him annoyed._

_"Hey, I'm talking seriously!"_

_"Seriously?! Come on, you just told me you came from the future!" The billionaire wiped a tear from his face, still laughing, and he reentered the mansion with the other man following him without ceremony._

_"Hey Tony! But I'm really from the future!" Peter cried out behind him and Tony snorted, pouring himself a glass of whiskey from a nearby cabinet._

_"Sure thing; and I'm the Easter Bunny."_

_"I AM from the future!" The other man insisted, and Tony took a long drink from his glass, watching him._

_"You are really adamant on this, aren't you?" The billionaire said then. "I have some time to burn, so entertain me with your life story before my bodyguard arrives and takes you to a mental asylum. I'm going to pretend that I believe you."_

_The engineer threw himself into an armchair and crossed his legs, idly holding the whiskey glass in his hands._

_"Alright, Marty McFly, who's your Dr. Brown? Because you are nuts and you certainly aren't alone in this 'time travel' stuff; there must be this guy that is backing you off and that is crazier than you and that for sure must have drunk all the stock of his bar..." Peter glanced amused at the whiskey glass that the other swayed from side to side as he spoke without daring to interrupt him. "... and who created your imaginary 'time machine' to come here and annoy my patience."_

_"Well..." Peter shrugged. "You did it."_

_Tony spit out his new sip of whiskey and coughed violently for a full minute and Peter watched him, find it amusing._

_"I invented a time machine?!" The engineer inquired incredulously._

_"Sort of." The other man agreed. "You did a pilot project that worked well and then I made some modifications here and there to serve my purposes; so if now I'm here to see you and to annoy your patience..."_

_Peter grinned happily._

_"... It's kind of your fault."_

_"Prove it, smartass." The billionaire demanded, resting his glass on a small side table; the drink completely forgotten. "Tell me something to prove it. And don't give me the results of an almanac because, if you have forgotten, I'm a billionaire."_

_The other man rolled his eyes, but thought for a moment and began to speak._

_"Are we in January 2010 right? Soon something very important is going to happen and totally change your life and of many people..." Tony snorted again and Peter shot him a confused look. "What?"_

_"You didn't read that in the horoscope of the morning newspaper, didn't you?"_

_The other man glared at him indignantly._

_"Of course not! That's dumb, Tony!"_

_"You're telling me about time travel." The billionaire replied._

_"Look; I can't really tell you exactly what will happen, I don't know what could happen on your timeline if I did that, but it has to do with car battery. A Lot. You will know what I mean when you see it. "_

_Peter's tech watch began to beep again, the sound echoing loudly in the mansion's quiet room. The man looked back at the billionaire sadly._

_"My time is up again, but as soon as I can, I'll be back. And Tony, don't give Strawberries to Pepper, she's allergic, will hate it and will kick you out of her office."_

_The same strange phenomenon took hold of Peter's body and the man disappeared, crumbling again into thousands of particles of light at the billionaire's astonished gaze._

~.~

_When Peter traveled back into the past, appearing again the large balcony of the Stark Mansion in Malibu, he considered it a breakthrough when approaching the glass door JARVIS greeted him and immediately cleared his entrance into the luxurious building. AI directed him to the side staircase and the man followed the instructions until he reached his mentor's lab._

_His whole opinion of 'getting somewhere' was shot down the drain when the engineer laid his eyes on him._

_Tony approached the other man and punched him in the face, and totally off guard, Peter received it fully straight on his left eye, being thrown to the ground with force; the time traveler found himself being lifted by the collar of his shirt and the billionaire threw him against one of the lab's workstation, pinning him against it._

_"A car battery!" He shouted angrily. "You could have mentioned the theft of my guns, the kidnapping, the fact that I almost died, but no! All you had to say was just fucking car's battery!"_

_"I'm sure if I told you that your business partner would cheat on you to steal Stark Industries you would have believed me." Peter answered sarcastically and that made the billionaire let him go partly._

_The time traveler passed his hand above the sore spot on his face._

_"My eye!" Peter glared at the engineer. "What's wrong with you?!"_

_"Me?!" Tony scoffed. "You appear out of nowhere when you want, parading into my house, knowing things like this and don't tell me! An accusation against Obadiah would be serious, I would have considered it!"_

_"You said yourself you were almost sending me to a mental asylum." Peter shot him back. "Besides, I know you wouldn't have done anything. The last time anyone told me about what you were like at this time, Rhodey described you as a drunken ass bastard that used Iron Man's armor to throw fancy parties and didn't give a shit about anything. "_

_The billionaire completely lost his words and visibly winced. Peter's glare softened then._

_"He doesn't hold any grudges against you about that, in my time at least." The traveler shrugged and gestured to the scenery around them. "Besides, all that shit time with the Ten Rings was a necessary evil; you had to go through that."_

_"Necessary?!" Tony repeated incredulously._

_"Of course; look what you have become." Peter tilted his head toward the nearest Iron Armor on the display behind a glass. "It was your destiny to become Iron Man... Your genius and creativity allowed you to overcome the worst situations; you became stronger..."_

_The younger man watched the engineer for a moment that seemed too long, and there was something in his eyes that Tony couldn't fully grasp, a feeling mixed with a shadow that partially obscured Peter's brown eyes._

_"In my time, you... are known as The World's Greatest Hero."_

_"I didn't the suit to take this kind of responsibility." The billionaire spoke quietly but internally deeply surprised._

_"You didn't." Peter agreed. "But when we officially met, I told you that when we can do things like this and we don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of us, by our negligence in not using everything we have to prevent it. "_

_Tony remained silent and Peter sat at the workstation and sighed, watching his mentor with a kind look._

_"At first I didn't want this either... but after I lost a person who was very special to me I realized it's no use trying to fight it... this is part of who we are."_

_The time traveler then looked at the iron armor._

_"You have saved many lives, Tony, and you will save many more not only by wearing the iron suit, but also by being who you are through your influence and the power that is Stark Industries." Looking back at the billionaire, he proceeded. "You will revolutionize the world, impact and transform the lives of many people..."_

_Peter smiled slightly._

_"If I'm not mistaken the incident with the robots at the Stark Expo has already occurred, right?" The engineer nodded in confirmation. "Remember a little boy you saved that day? Don't you think you changed his life with everything you did?"_

_"I remember him... He was dressed in an iron man's mask. And he tried to mimic me and shoot the robots using toy repulsors." Tony snorted softly. "He could have got himself killed, but he was not afraid... He... really stood his ground for a kid. Perhaps he believed for a moment that he had the same strength as me... I'm glad I got him on time. "_

_"I know." Peter nodded in agreement. "He believed he was like you."_

_The time traveler's watch began to ring the alarm, and the younger man smiled warmly._

_"That boy was me."_

_Tony's deeply surprised look met Peter's before he disappeared once again into thousands of light particles._

~.~

Pepper walked into the Stark Residence's lab absently typing on her StarkPad, answering an important email to one of the SI directors as part of her mind remembered that she had to go out with Happy in fifteen minutes of would miss the flight, and another part brought her back to the present moment as she needed to talk to the young engineer about Morgan.

"Peter, I know you are busy, but I wanted to ask you..." The woman glanced up and stopped completely everything she was doing.

Peter was sitting on one of the workstations with a large ice pack over his face; his head lifted towards her as he heard her call his name.

"Hey Pep." He grinned at her and the CEO of SI approached worried.

"What happened to you?" Pepper set the momentarily forgotten StarkPad on the table.

The auburn-haired woman pushed the ice pack away and carefully held the young man's face in her hands, frowning and kindly inspecting the swollen dark large bruise covering his entire left eye.

"It's nothing; I patrolled yesterday... and... huh... I found this guy strong and,... heh ... he was ... huh... trying to steal this... car... Yeah... he was trying to steal the car and I stopped him... huh... he was very strong. He hit me hard."

Peter smiled wide, hoping it didn't look too forced or fake; he really tried to hide his nervousness, Pepper's eyes, through gentle, had an accuracy that always seemed to stare directly at his soul when she wanted to. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't FRIDAY inform me that you left yesterday?"

"It didn't take long and I didn't want to worry you." He shrugged. "It's nothing really, tomorrow will be almost gone."

Pepper sighed softly; even if Peter wasn't Tony's blood son, she could have sworn they were almost a copy of each other. Shaking her head slightly, the woman went to a nearby shelf, picked up the medical kit and stopped again in front of the younger man, beginning to gently clean the wound.

"I know you're working on something big, Peter; you have that same sparkle in your eyes Tony used to wear in his when he created something brilliant..." The woman whispered and the young engineer watched her without daring to say a word; too afraid that if he did, he would give it all away. Sighing again, she went on. "You don't have to tell me what it is, just promise me it's nothing that will put your life on risk, okay?"

Finishing the job, Pepper set aside the cloth and caressed the other's face.

"Like Morgan, you're a son to me too; but you already know that."

"Yeah..." He nodded, touched, and cleared his throat. "So ... you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yes; an extraordinary meeting has been convened to decide some changes that will need to be implemented in one of the SI projects and I need to get the plane in thirty minutes." The woman told him. "Could you take care of Morgan for a few hours? I think by tomorrow morning I'll be back."

"I can do that." Peter smiled and Pepper returned the gesture, maternally kissing his cheek.

~.~

_Peter Parker was his name._

_It was easy to find the information through the records of Stark Expo visitors who were there at the time of the attack._

_He was just eight years old, was starting to go to school and was a big fan of Iron Man; he, his uncle and aunt lived in a humble house in Queens. He found out all about his family history and how they lived today; being who he was the billionaire had no trouble gathering all the information he could about the boy and found that there was nothing that related Peter or the Parkers to the Stark family or Stark Industries other than their visits to the Stark Expo and the incident that occurred with the robots._

_That... intrigued him deeply._

_Who was Peter? When did they first meet and what was their real relationship?_

_Tony didn't venture to meet him in person... he doubted that the first time they 'officially talked' was when Peter was still a child, based on the content of what the other had revealed to him the night before, and not wishing to cause profound changes in timeline beyond which whatever mess Peter was trying to do with his travels,_ _the engineer kept his distance and watched hidden inside his car as Happy represent him at the meeting he had scheduled in a public park with the Parker family to ask about the wellbeing of their child._

_Peter was very similar to his adult version; it was possible to find in his current childlike face the features of his future self; the billionaire watched as his friend handed the gift to the boy and Peter's face broke into a bright, broad smile as he stared at the authentic mask of the iron man in his hands. His joy was so genuine, innocent and contagious that Tony, inside the Audi, couldn't help but smile either._

~.~

These past nights Peter was so entertained in Stark's private lab, working on the time machine and using it in secrecy that he practically slept there and hardly ever went to the room Pepper had given him when he started spending a few days there with the Stark family. After returning from the Snap, he made it a routine for him to split his weeks between his aunt's apartment and the lake house.

Now that he was temporarily in the Stark Residence, taking care of his sister, he remembered that he had left his backpack in his room with some important notes that he needed to give a second look. The young engineer returned to retrieved it, but when he was about to leave the bedroom he stood near the door and stared at the mask of the iron suit resting on a small stand on his bedside table.

What was that?

Curious, Peter took the object in his hand and watched it for a moment; the gold color was slight faded with time, but the piece was authentic and intact.

"Batman has finally left his cave!" Morgan exclaimed happily on the door and Peter ignored her joke, lifting the mask for the girl and raising an eyebrow.

"Did you put this here?"

The girl watched him with strangeness mixed with curiosity.

"That was a gift from daddy to you. You have it for years."

The young man widened his eyes; surprised, he looked at the piece again in all its details, and found inside the mask his mentor's signature in Tony Stark's unmistakable handwriting.

Peter put it back in its place slowly, almost reverently.

"I didn't remember it.."

"Petey is becoming senile!" The girl burst out in a fit of giggles and the young man scoffed outraged.

He ran after Morgan who tried to escape, but in three quick strides Peter easily caught up with her and scooped the ten-year old into his lap, beginning to tickle her mercilessly and making the girl laugh even louder.

"If my hair starts to turn gray sooner it will be because of you, Little Miss. Totally your fault!"

~.~

_Peter traveled again after he had dropped Morgan to her school and returned to the lake house with several hours to spend alone as he wished._

_As the effects of the time machine faded, the scenery around him shifted from the lab to a deserted beach, the blue sky slowly dawning, brightening the day._ _The view of the sea stretched forth infinitely on one side, while on the other a hill rose with a single building built on top of it, and Peter immediately knew that he was at Tony's summer house on his private beach._

_The word home was, of course, a humble mention to describe the large mansion that stood tall and proudly not so far away from where the traveler was._

_"Pete?" The billionaire's familiar voice called and the young man turned around to find his mentor approaching._

_He walked alongside the sea barefoot in the sand, feet playing with the icy water of the waves that swirled around him in white foam and retreated back into the ocean. Tony was alone, appearing to be just taking a morning walk to clear his thoughts, dressing in a dark shorts and a white T-shirt and wearing curiosity on his countenance; at least this time he seemed genuinely happily surprised to see him again._

_"Hey Tony ..."_

_Peter greeted him and raised both hands in surrender, and the billionaire raised his eyebrows in questioning._

_"Well…" Peter chuckled. "If you haven't punched me yet and you're not threatening to call Happy to kick me out, I guess we could say we are getting somewhere."_

_Tony snorted amused, but his eyes softened slightly, observing the still fading bruise on the other man's left eye with a little guilt._

_"Sorry about that, by the way."_

_"I'm not offended, really; if I were you, I would've been totally freaked out. " Peter said cheerfully._

_Tony watched him then, and slightly tilting his head to the side, he offered his hand._

_"We could do this the right way around this time, I guess. I'm Tony. "_

_The time traveler shook his hand without hesitation._

_"Peter…"_

_"Parker." The billionaire finished for him. The younger man raised an eyebrow, more amused than surprised._

_"You've been researching my whole life since the last time we met, then." Peter laughed easily and the engineer shrugged, not even looking ashamed to admit it._

_"I may have taken a look into a thing of two."_

_"Find anything interesting?"_

_"Not much in this time, considering you're only a nine-year old boy." Tony grinned good naturedly. "I'm more interested in what news you could tell me from your time around, I confess."_

_"I guess there's no harm in telling you a few things..." The young man said thoughtfully, nodding and folding his arms. "What would you like to know?"_

_"Who are you and how do we meet?" Tony asked. "I know that right now you live with your uncle and aunt…"_

_The billionaire tried to best put his current thoughts into words._

_"You aren't my ... your mother and I ... We haven't happened to meet each other by any chance for... you know..."_

_Peter's eyes widened and a light blush covered his cheeks._

_"No! I'm not your… not like that! "The billionaire clearly breathed out a sigh of relief and the time traveler shook his head furiously, embarrassed. "We are close! Were… sort of… I think… I was your intern actually… I worked with you on Iron Man's suit settings and… others things too… We´ve met because we shared a mutual interest in spiders. "_

_Peter choose to not immediately reveal about his alter ego, and his mentor watched him back confused._

_"Spiders? Why would I be interested in spiders? "_

_"You will found out about it in a couple of years." The traveler shrugged. "I can tell that I was… huh… indirectly the reason you finally proposed Pepper in marriage."_

_Tony squinted and Peter laughed._

_"About that, why do you keep rolling Pepper around instead of marrying her at once? In my time it took you years to finally propose when clearly she's the only woman in this universe who could put up with you. "_

_"Years?" The billionaire repeated._

_"Yah!" Peter nodded repeatedly. "Don't keep her waiting for that much, man… You both had a wonderful life together."_

_The traveler's gaze softened and he said gently._

_"She really loves you… and you two… you have kids and have built a family together. Your family is fine now. "_

_Peter looked away from his mentor and stared at the ocean and at the distant breaking waves with a faraway gaze. The shadow of Thanos that came to his mind momentarily he forced it back to his subconscious, trying to hide it at all costs from the other man who didn't realize it, too focused on the things that his new friend had been willing to share._

_"I have… Kids?" Tony repeated with great surprise; never before did he imagine himself as the father type of man, especially after all the shit that happened with his own father, but knowing that, it made something awaken within him, something he couldn't explain and Peter smiled gently, swallowing the lump on his throat, thrilled._

_"You both have…" He confirmed. "And they love you so much… more than anything else in this world." Tony's eyes sparkled with emotion._

_At the far away mansion, Pepper was typing something in her Starkpad, answering the message to one of Stark Industries' investors when she looked up, pausing for the moment to think, and with surprise saw Tony on the shore talking to another man who she didn't know._

_The woman peered her eyes, trying to see them better in the distance, and observed the billionaire's relaxed countenance who was wearing an open and sincere smile on his lips, such a rare expression! The other was a young man who looked no older than thirty; she had never seen him before and would not see him again after that day, but the only thing that was marked in her memories was that the black Star Wars shirt he wore had the design of a starship sailing in the endless space..._

~.~

Peter snorted, staring amusedly at his little sister who was currently bending over the victim of her current project; their kitchen toaster.

"Tell me again, why do you want to make it throw the bread highest?"

Morgan frowned her small eyebrows gravely in concentration, not even glancing up at him as she answered.

"If the toaster tosses the bread right on the table, Mom won't have to get up all the time to get it for us."

Peter watched the aforementioned object completely disassembled and scattered in several pieces on the center of the living room's table; if Pepper were at home surely she would've freaked out in finding her ten-year old daughter performing experiments on their electronics, but they had some things in their advantage.

One: Pepper wasn't at home.

Two: Morgan wasn't doing it alone.

Three: FRIDAY was ready to turn off the house's power and contain any initial signs of fire if the toaster begins to burn when it was plugged in.

Four: All evidence would no longer exist and everything will be back in place by the time Pepper gets home.

Perfectly and cautiously planned.

"Maybe you should consider putting this piece here. I think it would work better. "

The young engineer suggested and Morgan tilted her head slightly to the side, thoughtfully, until she nodded to herself satisfied and accepted her big brother's advice, placing the piece where he indicated.

Peter thought it was cute and a faint, sad smile curved his lips; she looked a lot like her father and the girl, focused, didn't notice the slight change in his demeanor.

For a brief moment the young engineer turned his attention away from Morgan and stared at a group of photos arranged over the living room's fireplace; some were taken before the first snap, some in the 5 years that followed, and some in the last 5 years after Tony sacrificed himself for them.

The first pictures were of Tony and Pepper together, two also showing Rhodey and Happy. Peter's absent 5 years photos had Tony, Pepper, and Morgan in them; some when she was just a baby on her parents' lap and some with her slight older. In the most recent ones Tony became absent and in his place Peter became present in all the photos alongside Pepper and Morgan; some with their friends and others were just family shots of them or also with May.

The only picture where Tony and Peter were together was taken at Stark Industries with the two of them holding the teenager's internship certificate, and it was the one Peter treasured the most.

Watching his mentor's face, the slight, natural grin resting on his lips, Peter sighed softly; it looked like they had taken it yesterday and not more than ten years ago…

He closed his eyes.

_"He did it because he loved you." _The young man listened to Pepper's words again in his remembrances.

He missed him… He missed him a lot.

Later, when Pepper returned home at two in the morning, she found everything in order with her both kids sleeping on the living room's couch; Morgan curled on the young man's right side with her head resting on his lap while his hand rested on her shoulder. Apparently they had slept while watching a movie and FRIDAY had turned off the TV and dimmed the lights to a more comfortable intensity.

Pepper smiled and decided to not wake them; she caught the glimpse of Peter's Star Wars shirt that had the print of a starship and the woman stared at it for a long moment before she shook her head and exited the room.

She had seen Peter wear that shirt several times before, why only now did she feel a strange familiarity with it? As if she had also seen it on a different, unusual occasion... she tried to remember, but couldn't.

~.~

_"Time travel is not exactly an easy to do," Peter told him on one of his visits. "Although I made some adjustments on the time machine, there are some things that I still can't control, even with FRIDAY's help."_

_"How so?" Tony asked from one the couches of his Penthouse, on the Stark Tower, after he had recovered from the fright the traveler had given him just a few minutes ago after finding the man waving from the balcony of the 93-story Main Tower, and Peter was trying to explain himself._

_"I can't set the exact date when I want to go back in the past; your original settings are complex and I'm still having a hard time deciphering and modifying them, that's why our meetings are so inconstant. " The younger man told him enthusiastically, making several hand gestures as he spoke to make his explanation clearer, much to the billionaire's amusement. "For you it happens once in a few months or even years; for me it's just a matter of hours, I'm traveling almost every night. "_

_"How do you know where to find me if you can't get set the date and time desired?"_

_"I'm using FRIDAY's recordings to estimate your most likely location; she then set it in the machine and it sends me to somewhere close according to the next date the machine is enabled to travel. That's also how I've come to appear on your balcony tonight like this or even in your previous mansion in Malibu. "_

_Peter laughed, still remembering his mentor's incredulous face and Tony snorted._

_"There are two quirks that I'm also working on changing, but unfortunately I still haven't advanced much far yet."_

_"What are they?" The engineer asked curiously, really interested._

_"The time travel doesn't last long, I can only stay for fifteen minutes in the past. The other thing is that the machine only sends me 'forward'. For example, I'm here talking to you now, but I can't return to a point in the past of this moment, like an hour ago of this same day, the machine will only enable another trip for a moment that happens in the future, like in a few hours, days, months or even years. "_

_Peter shrugged._

_"I'm sure it's some damn circuit or a configuration defect, I'll find and fix it."_

_Tony watched him contemplative, but before he could comment on anything, the other man had spoken again, suddenly changing the subject._

_"I don't have much time left right now, but I was wondering…" After glancing briefly to his watch, Peter encountered his mentor's eyes. "… If I could make a request on behalf of one of your kids?"_

_The billionaire raised an eyebrow._

_"What could I possible do here for them?"_

_Peter stood from the couch and fumbled with the hem of his shirt shyly._

_"There is this time, you know… he was fifteen years old and he messed up this boat stuff and ... well, you got really mad about it so… he wondered if you could, you know, don't be soooooooo mad or take it easy on him, and forgive him. "_

_"What did he do?" Tony snorted. "Was it a fishing that went wrong and he sank the canoe?"_

_"Actually it was the Ferry." Peter blurted out before he could even think about it and he immediately clasped his mouth shut in horror as the engineer's eyes widened in disbelief._

_"_The Ferry_?!" The man repeated incredulously. "How on Earth did he sank the Ferry?!"_

_"He didn't sink it!" Peter exclaimed defensively. "Almost! Sort of! You were there on time to prevent it. It was not his fault; really, he was fighting this group of bad guys with an alien weaponry… "_

_"I let one of my kids fight criminals?" Tony shook his head horrified. "Why would I do that?"_

_"You gave him a suit for protection." The traveler argued and the billionaire stood up from the couch, gapping at him, shocked._

_"I gave a _fifteen year old kid _one of my _suits_?! Was I out of my mind?! " He shouted out and Peter flinched at the man's furious tone, immediately regretting having even mentioned it._

_His watch began to beep, saving him._

_"Oops, time to go!" He blurted out. "Please, don't take way his suit!"_

_"Oh no! You will tell me this story right! "_

_"Bye, Tony!"_

_"Peter!" The billionaire tried to grab him by the arm. "Peter! Wait! Peter! "_

_But the other man had already disappeared._

~.~

_They had been talking for a few minutes at Tony's Penthouse when it happened; Peter stopped completely what he was saying and his face turned into an expression of horror and disbelief._

_"What day you said it is today?" He inquired, pale, and the billionaire repeated himself, confused._

_"October 9, 2015."_

_No sooner had the words left Tony's mouth, Peter had turned around and was running halfway across the room towards the exit, ignoring the other's calls when a quick glance at the wall's clock made him stop dead on this tracks. His shoulders sloped in defeat and Tony saw the man's face fall so hard that he truly became concerned for the other's wellbeing._

_"It's… too late…" The traveler muttered to himself, shaking his head, unable to believe it. "It... already happened ... too late ... too late now ..."_

_"Pete?" The engineer called cautiously and the young man jumped, completely forgetting that he wasn't alone. Peter looked up back at Tony, his eyes suspiciously wet._

_"Hey... are you alright?" The billionaire approached, extending his hand, but Peter recoiled from his touch, shaking his head._

_"I-I .. I'm sorry ... I ... this ... is not a good day ..." Peter mumbled incoherently more to himself than to his mentor. "I ... I can't stay today ... sorry ..."_

_Before Tony could say anything Peter turned on his watch and disappeared._

~.~

_Tony found out what had happened on the evening news on television; it was a simple broadcast, didn't last more than 10 seconds before the journalist changed the subject, but enough to completely rock the world of a thirteen-year-old kid._

_Benjamin Parker's funeral took place on a rainy Saturday morning in a discreet ceremony that brought no more than a small crowd of people who came to leave their last goodbyes._

_Standing in a distant spot of the cemetery, a silhouette partially concealed by a tree, Tony watched the whole ceremony in disguise with a heavy black overcoat, black glasses and a hat that hid a part of his face; no one noticed his presence._ _The billionaire watched one by one as people started to leave; the teenager's aunt couldn't take it anymore and had to be supported by friends when she collapsed to her knees in copious weeping before the tombstone, and had to be half-dragged, half-carried away._

_Only Peter stood alone in front of the grave, watching it with blank eyes as the rain continued to fall on him, totally wetting his clothes and his face, and not really seeing what was before him. He was lost and the weight of the gray world around him fell on his small shoulders just as severely as it fell on the shoulders of an adult._

_Tony knew he shouldn't approach... If Peter recognized him before the right time many things could change in the timeline, but watching him that way, so deeply broken and alone, made the man cut the distance between them and approach the kid;_ _he laid his hand on Peter's shoulder and brought the kid to him and without fighting or even reacting the boy let himself be embraced by the stranger who shielded him from the world in his long black overcoat._ _They remained silent until the small whimper escaped the boy's mouth, then more came along with the tears and slid down his face. Peter wept in his embrace for what seemed like a long time as the man caressed his hair gently in utterly silence._

_His aunt's friends came back to pick him up shortly thereafter and the teenager barely noticed the moment the stranger released him to hand him over, disappearing in quick steps so suddenly as he had first appeared._ _It was only later that night while lying in his bed and struggling to endure the pain and grief that fell over him, that Peter thought again of the stranger who had kindly offered him comfort; only then did he realize that he hadn't even asked him his name, or thanked him._

~.~

_"Why are you here, Pete?"_

_Tony asked him directly in one of the visits the time traveler had made to him._

_It come out suddenly and unexpectedly in the middle of another subject that caught Peter completely off guard; the man's eyes widened and the billionaire noticed a shadow of pain flash in his friend's brown eyes before he turned his face away and covered it with careful neutrality._

_"I've came to learn." It was his answer and the engineer raised his eyebrow._

_"Why bother creating a time machine it if you can read something that has already happened in a book or newspaper, or even someone telling you or on recordings?"_

_Peter shrugged._

_"Some things you learn best by living through it."_

_The billionaire let it drop and they changed the subject; Peter remained cautious all the time; there was something off on his stance and eyes that contained a strange shadow._

_Tony didn't believe him completely._

~.~

Pepper had decided on a reserved birthday party for her daughter, only for close friends. Peter had been glad for the occasion to see his aunt again; after she had been promoted, he could rarely see her between May's busy shifts at the hospital and his work at the Tower labs or the private labs at Stark Residence. It was such a pleasant time that it passed quickly and Morgan was simply radiant in her flowery white dress.

Everyone was around the table singing happy birthday to the beautiful Princess Stark when it happened. The girl's eyes lost some of their bright glow as they watched the candles on the cake, and after blowing it, she revealed aloud her wish.

"I wish Daddy was here."

The silence that followed in the living room seemed to last for a long moment, until Pepper knelt beside her daughter and embraced her tenderly, kissing her cheek with a shadow of sadness tainting her pale blue eyes.

"Me too, sweetheart, me too ..."

~.~

That night Peter locked himself in his room at the Stark Residence and took all of his will power to not scream aloud in frustration.

Damn the timeline, fears of drastic change in past and future events.

To hell with it all!

The young engineer sat on the bed with his head in his hands.

He couldn't take it anymore.

His eyes filled with tears; Morgan's voice echoing in his head over and over again, her innocent birthday wish hitting his heart with sadness and guilt.

_I wish daddy was here..._

Peter took a deep, shaky breath; it wasn't fair that Morgan and Pepper were still mourning Tony's loss while he talked to his mentor every night using the time machine. He had figured out a way to make Tony's project work to his advantage and he was depriving Pepper and Morgan of reuniting with their husband-father; he, for stupid fears of hypothesis, was depriving Tony to prepare himself in advance for the war against Thanos.

A chance to fight, survive and live with his family in the world he saved.

Peter looked up; his eyes burned with determination and resolve.

He stood up from the bed, sat in the chair in front of his desk, took a paper and a pen, and looked at the blank sheet. For a brief moment he thought about the possible consequences of what he was about to do, but then Peter closed his eyes and he saw Tony, Pepper, and Morgan walking together on the lakeside on a pleasantly sunny day; they had smiles on their faces; they were happy.

The young engineer stared at the paper again and began to write.

_Tony..._

_I know you are against knowing about things that happen in the future, afraid that you might end up changing something important irreparably, but I need to tell you this, because it matters to Pepper, to Morgan, and also to me._

_In the future where I come from, you... are no longer with us. A great war broke out and this crazy alien guy named Thanos from a planet named Titan managed to gather the infinity stones that were scattered throughout the universe. He merged them with a glove and snapped his fingers, ripping out half the lives of everyone on earth. You, the great genius you are, created the first version of the time machine to reverse this and you managed to save us all... but to do that in the last confrontation against Thanos you took the stones and snapped your fingers in his place... you died doing that._

_It's been five years since this happened... Morgan is eleven years old now, and she's a lot like you, a little genius too much smart for her own good; her birthday happened today, you know that? Her wish was to have you here with us now..._

_It's not fair, Tony ... She told me you always told her stories about me, and now it's me who has to be the one to tell stories about you to your daughter._

_You should be here._

_You must be wondering why you were telling Morgan stories of me, well ... remember the war? I was one of the people who were snapped out of existence, and I can't describe the terrible pain I felt when Pepper told me the truth as kindly and lovingly as she could... That the motivation of you to have invented the time machine in the first place was because of me._

_She told me you didn't do this just to save humanity... but also to save a son._

_I've lived for five years knowing that, telling stories of you to my little sister knowing that indirectly I'm responsible for you not being with her now._

_It hurts, Tony... it hurts so much... There's not a day when I don't think about it..._

_I have modified the time machine so I can see you again; I swore I would stay away, but I couldn't... and I will be condemned to hell if I don't take this second chance to help you prevent this war from beginning in your time._

_You taught me that we should follow our hearts and do what is right; and, shit, this is completely right for me, because I won't lose the chance to save my father._

_In the pages attached to this letter I reported all the major events that occurred and culminated in this war, please read it. Gather the avengers; find Thanos before he begins searching for the stones. Do something, anything, and for God's sake, don't fucking die on us again._

_Your friends needs you; your wife needs you; your daughter needs you, and I need you too... more than ever._

_Please, dad... Stay with us._

_Peter_

~.~

_When Peter opened his eyelids after the sensations of time travel had finally passed, he widened his eyes at the choice of place that FRIDAY had inserted into the machine's programming; it was the same building he and Tony had discussed after he almost screwed up the Ferry and the billionaire had taken back the spider suit._

_Wincing to himself from the remembrance, he complained to the A.I._

_"There was no better place for you to choose for us to talk, FRI? What I'm about to give him isn't exactly flowers and I'm already freaking out thinking about his reaction! This place doesn't help it!"_

_"I'm sorry, Peter" FRIDAY answered him through his watch. "You said you needed to meet Boss as urgently as possible and this is the closest moment I could set up on the time machine's system; according to my calculation he should fly over this place in the iron armor in exactly ten minutes. "_

_Sighing in resignation, the young man watched the sun set in the distance with its golden light bathing the buildings, the length of the Harbor, the Ferry sliding serenely across the water and also his grave countenance and the strong breeze messed up his hair, but he didn't mind it._

_Peter observed the golden sky ahead and at the exact time estimated by FRIDAY he glimpsed in a small red and gold figure approaching at high speed, flying over New York towards the Stark Tower. The young man swallowed the sudden lump that appeared in his throat making his mouth go dry; nervousness began to slowly take a hold of him._

_"FRI." He called. "Do you ... huh ... think that you can get in touch with your past self on Tony's armor and let him know I'm here?"_

_"I can try to do that." The A.I Answered._

_Peter waited and not even five seconds later he saw Iron Man's head turn in his direction; the world's mightiest defender did a quick evasive maneuver in the sky and in a perfect and elegant circle the hero changed course and began to fly towards the building where the time traveler stood._

_FRIDAY had been successful._

_Peter waited in silence, his eyes glued on his childhood hero with the same admiration he had felt as an 8-year-old boy at the Stark Expo, and with a longing sensation so strong like the one he felt the night he had seen his mentor again after using the time machine for the first time._

_The last time he'd seen Iron Man; Tony, wearing his armor, had been in the battle against Thanos; his father figure had fallen to the ground as the Ark Reactor in his chest faded as fast as the light of life faded from his eyes._

_Peter needed to close his eyelids and take a deep breath to get a hold on his emotions and steady himself a second before he heard the loud sound of the repulsors sound very close to him, and the traveler saw the iron armor descend completely upon the building and open; it's occupant easily stepped out of its interior, wearing his dark business attire very similar to the one he wore that day._

_The easy-going grin showed on Tony's face as soon as he could observe the other man with his own eyes._

_"Pete, how nice of you to stop by! You will not know how amusing it is to hear your own A.I say that she must be malfunctioning because she suddenly found another version of herself hacking into my suit to set up an unexpected meeting. I think you freaked out my FRIDAY, kid. "_

_"What can I say?" Peter snorted. "She's a really gifted A.I."_

_"I'm flattered to hear your compliment, young boss." FRIDAY answered aloud from Peter's watch and the grin on the billionaire's face widened fondly at that._

_"You're that close, huh?" Tony raised an eyebrow and a light blush dyed Peter's cheeks._

_"Well… we had a long history together." He shrugged._

_"So ... To what I owe this pleasure?" Tony inquired._

_The nervousness that Peter had momentarily forgotten returned to hit him with full strength and the young man shifted in his place uncomfortably; something that didn't go unnoticed to the billionaire, who frowned._

_"I… I have been thinking… a lot in the past few hours; not that I don't usually think about stuff like this, I do think because I really don't want to do something stupid… " Peter saw Tony's brown eyes light up in humor and noticed himself rambling. The traveler coughed and said. "I-I... I'm here to give you this!"_

_Peter shoved the white envelope in his mentor's hands and Tony stared at it with curiosity._

_"What is this?"_

_"T-This…" The young engineer watched his mentor's face guilty. "That's why I am here… the truth."_

_The humor and curiosity immediately left the billionaire's countenance, filled with grave seriousness mixed with incredulity._

_"All this time it has been only because of you ... I've come all this way because I needed to see you."_

_Peter was shaking slightly, but he didn't let his nervousness stop his words; on the contrary, his voice acquired a fast and urgent tone, his eyes pleaded for the other to listen to him._

_"I... I traveled through the machine time to give you this... it has a description of an important future event that you need to know, Tony-"_

_"You can't be serious." The billionaire interrupted him, shaking his head. "This got to be some kind of bad joke coming from my future self ..."_

_"I'm not joking Tony! This is very important! "Peter insisted. "You need to read it very carefully..."_

_"This isn't right, Pete!" The engineer interrupted him again; he took some steps away from the other man, staring at the letter in his hands in a mixture of disbelief and disgust. "This… is messing with the world's entire fucking timeline!"_

_"It's a risk we need to take!" Peter argued; his tone desperate and urgent. He needed to convince his mentor at any cost._

_Tony stared back at him with alarm._

_"Risk?" He repeated in an incredulity that began to turn into barely contained fury. "This isn't just a try shot to a target at an amusement park kid; you are riding a damn time machine!"_

_"Tony-"_

_"Risk is taking a bet on a bad card's game; you lose some money, get a couple of drinks until you pass out and that's the end of it. If I read this, we will break the natural course of events in the universe; we will be fucking it all up!"_

_"You don't know this! You don't know if in my time it wasn't already screwed up! "Peter shot it back at him. "You don't understand…"_

_"I do, actually; you want to fix something that went wrong and that's not how things work out." Tony faced him fully, narrowing his eyes. "Listen, I did many things myself in my past that if I had the knowledge I have today, I would have done it differently, but not like this… not using people's future as a bargaining chip."_

_"What is in this letter also affects them; it doesn't concern just me, but all humanity!" Peter took a deep breath. "Do you think that all that shit that happened in New York in 2012 was horrible? Well, I can assure you that it was only the beginning of something worse. "_

_He took a step closer to his mentor, proceeding without breathing._

_"We're at a critical point in the timeline that if we don't act NOW tomorrow will be too late to do anything! I don't have your genius, Tony; FRIDAY and I haven't been able to change your programming on the time machine yet, I won't be able to come back to this very moment to talk to you again!"_

_"You and FRIDAY?!" The billionaire repeated, raising his voice considerably. "And where the hell am I in your time to prevent you from throwing the entire timeline in the trash can and to put some sense into you?!"_

_Peter flinched and his face broke so hard that he looked as if Tony had just physically slapped him with his iron gauntlet. The billionaire's gauze softened partly, but his conviction didn't._

_"Pete… I'm sure that whatever happened we worked it out together just fine."_

_"W-we did it… you did it…" The traveler's voice shook and he gasped, feeling himself losing his air. "But… I could've been better… We could…"_

_"No." Tony denied. "You are well Peter, and you once told me that my family also is."_

_"Tony, please…!"_

_"This…" The engineer lifted the envelope._

_"Tony ...!"_

_"We don't need this."_

_Before Peter's horrified eyes Tony tore the letter in several small pieces and the wind pushed them away, scattering them across the terrace and out of it, flying away into the alleys around the building._

_The billionaire held his ground firmly, but it took all of him to not flinch at the look of ultimate betrayal and pain that Peter gave him; speechless, the time traveler stared back at his mentor in shock and didn't even realize when the tears started to slide down his face, cold and bitter._

"Peter!"

_FRIDAY's voice called aloud from the watch; Tony looked at it frowning; even he seemed concerned at the A.I's uncharacteristic urgently and demanding tone. Although the time traveler didn't sketch any reaction, still staring at the billionaire in shock, FRIDAY continued fast._

_"An emergency situation happened and Pepper is summoning you back to the lake house; protocol Master Key has been activated. "_

_Peter paled; Tony's eyebrows shot up in deep surprise; that was the secret security protocol he had created to protect his family should the need ever arise, and the billionaire, coming out of his stupor, demanded._

_"FRIDAY, what's happening?!"_

_The A.I ignored the man's request, saying instead._

_"High damage is reported to the time machine's structure; for safety measures I'm shutting down the system and ending the time connection. "_

_"Damn it, FRIDAY! What´s happening?! No! Peter! "_

_Tony reached out when the time traveler's body began to glow and he embraced the younger man in a futile attempt to hold him in his time; Peter's scared eyes found his and Tony watched helpless his protégée disappear from his arms._

~.~

Just as Peter felt his body materialize in the present and his feet hit the firm ground, the man was abruptly knocked down by an explosion that sent him flying straight to a wall. Peter slammed into it and fell sprawled on the floor.

Coughing, the young engineer stood and his incredulous eyes met the scene around him; the lab was all covered in flames and a part of the structure had collapsed dangerously close to the time machine, raising a dense cloud of dust. Across the room, one of the support beams was broken in half and threatened to topple the rest.

Peter rushed to the holographic control panel and his fingers slid over the light keys as alerts flashed in an angry red color across the screen, revealing severe damage.

"FRIDAY! What is going on?!"

"Stark Residence is under attack from unknown origin." The AI immediately responded and Peter felt himself grow cold.

The man completely forgot about the lab and the time machine, his thoughts were only on his family.

"Pepper and Morgan?!"

"They are on the second floor, inside the master bedroom. I started the emergency security protocol and the walls of the house were shielded with the titanium layer; Colonel Rhodes has been notified and is on his way with an army, he expected to arrive in fifteen minutes."

The AI then told him.

"Pepper is asking about your wellbeing."

"Tell her to stay there, I'm on my way. Activate all battle suits and advance them around the perimeter in defense of Stark Residence; also, give me my suit, FRI!"

"Right away, young boss."

AI immediately accepted the command and a wall opened on the side of the room, revealing the Iron Spider Suit inside a security capsule; the glass opened and as soon as Peter approached the suit automatically dressed itself on his body. The young engineer took one last look at the burning laboratory and time machine standing under the structure that threatened to collapse at any moment and looked away. He jumped to the ceiling and quickly escaped through an opening made by the destruction.

His family needed him now.

"The suits are on their way, Peter; they will be in position in five minutes." Karen's voice greeted him as soon as the hero reached the outer scenery of the lake house.

There was a chaos of fire and flames rising high, consuming trees and surrounding the Stark Residence. A thick cloud of smoke partially blocked his view, and the young engineer used the advanced settings of his suit to guide himself through Karen. Peter moved fast, ran through the garden towards the main entrance of the house and came across a group of men heavily armed from head to toe, faces covered in gas masks, trying to force the door to break down.

The young hero jumped and fell on them before they could sense his presence and react; he knocked the first two down with his web, pinning them to the ground, and dodged the shots the third man fired at him before webbing him completely against the wall. Two more emerged from the sea of flames between the trees and Peter leaped off, quickly climbing the side structure of the lake house, narrowly escaping the wave of gunfire that nearly hit his left shoulder.

"Reinforce the front door and the windows protection, FRIDAY! They're armed to the teeth and coming with everything!" Peter spoke to the AI, running across the roof and catching glimpses of various shapes approaching the residence through the fire.

They were totally surrounded.

"Karen, show the Stark Residence layout on the screen and trace the course of the emergency exit."

His AI immediately provided him in the lower corner of his mask's visor the entire structure of the lake house and the course of the secret underground path Tony had built, running through a large expanse of forest to the secret exit in a considerable safe distance from the house. Karen also provided him with the exact location of Pepper and Morgan and the man climbed another wall to get closer to the master bedroom.

"FRI, open the window!" Peter said, and immediately the titanium shield opened for seconds fast enough for the spider hero to sneak into the house in a cloud of smoke. FRIDAY resealed the entrance behind him.

Pulling back his mask as he coughed, Peter found his arms full with his little sister who clung to his neck for dear life, afraid.

"Petey!" Morgan screamed and the young engineer took her completely in his arms, resting her legs around his waist, his eyes fixed on the auburn-haired woman.

"We have to get out of here now; FRIDAY is holding them with the titanium shield, but they are heavily armed and I don't know how long she will be able to maintain it."

"For the emergency exit." Pepper nodded, she immediately grabbed a bag she'd already stored with a few precious items and photos of Tony, Morgan, Peter and their friends from the fireplace, and withdrew a gun from a secret compartment of the nightstand a few seconds later.

Peter led the way carrying Morgan and Pepper followed close behind him; they ran down the stairs to the first floor, listening all the way to the sound of gunshots constantly striking the walls of the house; some so strong that it even shook the whole structure.

"How long for the suits, FRIDAY?" Pepper inquired as they reached the kitchen and the AI opened the secret passage through a false wall, illuminating the underground corridor for them to pass.

"One minute; Colonel Rhodes's reinforcement will be here in ten minutes." FRIDAY sealed the entrance with a titanium door after the family had passed and continued talking to Mrs. Stark through her wristwatch. "I will distract them at the perimeter around Stark Residence, but I will leave suits ready at the exit of the passage to wait for you; your suit will be prepared if you wish to use it."

"Thank you, FRIDAY." Pepper genuinely thanked her; she wondered how the AI could accurately predict her wishes.

They followed the passage for several minutes, walking briskly in the semidarkness without ever slowing down or stopping to rest; Peter felt an urge to take his family away to safety, but whenever he looked at Pepper to see if she wanted to stop for a rest he found only her blue eyes sparkling with such determination that he rivaled his own.

They climbed to the top of a hill to meet the slope of evergreen trees going down the hillside and then blackened, swallowed by the burning flames that pervaded the lakeshore and made the Residence completely disappear from view in the cloud smoke. Even from afar they could clearly hear the heavy equipment being thrown against at the house's protection system.

There were three suits at the exit of the secret passage and Pepper's suit was near as FRIDAY had previously told them; they saw the moment when Combat Machine flew over the trees and disappeared into the smoke followed by military reinforcements and other Avengers, and the young man, woman and girl also saw the moment when an iron armor left the confrontation to come in their direction; it landed perfectly kneeling right fist on the ground ten steps away and then stood tall and proud in readiness to protect them if necessary, its icy blue eyes stared back at them burning like fire.

Pepper's eyes filled with tears, Morgan stared at it curiously and Peter swallowed hard.

Even though it was FRIDAY who was controlling it, faithfully reproducing the mannerisms of its former wearer, the suit Peter had restored, the one Tony had worn in the war against Thanos... looking at it now was as if they were seeing Iron Man himself again.

~.~

Rhodey was still investigating, but everything seemed to point to an attempt by HYDRA to eliminate Tony Stark's legacy by murdering his wife and daughter. When reinforcement arrived some of the enemies fled, others died in direct confrontation and a small part was captured alive to be interrogated incessantly by the Colonel.

While Morgan and Pepper rested safely that night highly secured in the new Avengers Campound, Peter had returned to the lake house and now watched the wreckage that had been left behind after the surprise attack had ceased and the fire had been extinguished_. _Still wearing the iron spider suit, the young hero took a deep breath and felt his eyes fill with tears as he stared at the partially demolished Stark Residence; the laboratory was totally in ruins.

His and Tony's work...

A strangled sob escaped the young man's lips and Peter fell to his knees in front of the ruined house.

Tony tore the letter apart and the time machine was destroyed.

It was gone ... The only chance to save him was lost; he would never see him again.

He had let it slip through his fingers.

Consumed by grief, Peter cried.

~.~

_He stood motionless by the large glass window of his penthouse in the Stark Tower, watching New York City with a faraway gaze._

_The rational thoughts that raced through Tony Stark's mind made him question reality, the fragile and tenuous structure of timeline and the severe damage that could be inflicted on his world in that mad, temporal machine game that the future version of himself had done._

_And, at the same time, his mind constantly made him revisit the memory of Peter's pale face, his frightened brown eyes meeting his seconds before the future version of his AI cut off the connection and FRIDAY sent him back to his time._

_The billionaire sighed deeply, running a hand over his face feeling the wave of concern for the traveler filling his heart; something seriously was going on in the future, Peter hadn't feigned his fear. Something that couldn't be prevented in the future... but that, maybe, he could prevent here, in the past._

_Tony glanced back at the desk of his private office where a handful of shredded paper was laid out, weighting down the consequences of what he seriously considered to do._

_Was it the right thing? Is it worth jeopardizing the timeline's structure to change one event?_

_Shit; he knew himself so well that he wouldn't have let such madness occur if it weren't for something worthwhile, and Peter was a good young man; brilliant and with a good responsible head above his shoulders._

_He remembered the desolate boy he had embraced in the cemetery, remembered the boy who smiled when he received an authentic Iron Man mask autographed by his hero; he remembered the time traveler turning his face away when asked why he was coming to the past, the look of joy Peter showed on their first meeting when he hugged him, and the pain that struck his face when the billionaire had ripped the letter apart._

_Tony sighed again and realized he was so attached to the kid that he had already made his decision internally a long time ago. Telling FRIDAY his request the engineer waited and surely five minutes later his wife came into the room and raised an eyebrow at him with curiosity._

_"Tony?"_

_"Do you have some free time on your schedule now?"_

_"I do. What is all this about? " Pepper inquired and her husband shrugged, showing the pile of shredded paper on the table._

_"I was wondering if you could give me a hand to put this puzzle back together."_

~.~

Peter stirred, feeling himself slowly awaken as if his body was reluctant to let the pleasant sleep to throw his consciousness back to reality. Face buried in an absurdly comfortable pillow, he groaned as the sound of the clock echoed loudly near his ear and instinctively he reached out to the nightstand to clumsily turn off the damn thing, nearly crumpling it with his strength. The man began to snore softly as deep in his head a small annoying thought reminded him that he needed to get up or would be late in taking Morgan to school again.

Pepper would be so mad at him...

Suddenly his eyes flew open and he immediately sat on the bed, staring shocked at his watch and then his gaze roamed over his entire bedroom of the lake house.

The same lake house that had been destroyed in less than 2 days after Hydra's attack.

Incredulously, the young hero jumped out of bed and rushed down the hall wearing his pajamas, watching the scenery completely intact; everything was in place, just as he remembered it.

"This... this is craziness..." he whispered, shaking his head furiously.

In the comfortable, familiar living room, the man heard voices coming from outside the house and he stood by the window, watching Pepper and Morgan laughing and talking while taking care of some garden flowers as they usually always did during weekends, and Peter blinked several times stupidly, seeing that the scene didn't change.

What the hell was happening?!

He almost called them out loud to ask if they still remembered the attack or if he had raved it after working until he passed out in the labs again, but his voice froze in his throat as another one echoed down the hallway.

"Kid! Where are you?!"

Peter lost his breath; slowly, very slowly, he turned around and wide-eyed saw Tony parading into the living room casually dressed in a shorts and dark shirt, his hair slightly messy and a loose, lazy smile on his lips; the man's eyes shone with strength and humor, his mere presence transformed the environment, filling it with joy and life.

The engineer glanced distractedly towards the younger man and snorted amused.

"Why are you still in your pajamas? Rise and shine sunshine! The sun is up high and the sky is very blue, the day is beautiful and the girls are waiting for us outside. Go change at once!"

Peter stared hard, paralyzed, not understanding a word of what was said and unable to fully grasp what was going on.

He was dreaming... he could only be dreaming or had gone mad for good!

When the engineer received no reaction from the other, Tony stopped and put his full attention on Peter, frowning when he realized he was static, looking more like a zombie who slept nothing than a human; pale face, barely holding himself standing, looking scared, watching him back as if he had seen a ghost and ready to break into tears.

"Whoa, hold on! Pete... are you alright? What happened? Did you and MJ fight again?"

Peter almost choked; tremulous, the words came out low and weak.

"Are you alive..."

Tony's eyebrows shot up to his forehead in surprise; It was the last answer he was expecting to receive, but it didn't last more than three seconds before the younger man saw the engineer's brown eyes soften in total understanding and his face turned to tenderness.

"Peter... You remembered..." The smile that sprouted from Tony's lips was absolutely radiant. "I did a lot of calculations ... after you disappeared that day, I ... I tried to estimate your age from the traits FRIDAY was able to record from your visits, to estimate the exact day, month and year of the last time you had traveled back in time..."

The engineer passed both trembling hands over his face, his eyes never leaving the younger man, watching him as if he could scarcely believe it himself; Tony started to laugh, a genuine, contented laugh.

"Peter... My God, Peter!" He grinned widely. "I knew it was sometime this month! I was sure of it! But the changes in the timeline were so drastic that... It was almost nonexistent the possibility that you could still remember it all when the time of your leap back to your timeline and my timeline finally meet in this alternative... God! You remembered! "

"How... how do you...?" Peter mumbled; his mind was so frozen that he couldn't keep up with the other's quick thinking at that moment. "You ... you tore my letter... and you... Thanos he..."

Tony put his trembling hand in the left pocket of his shorts and slowly pulled out a folded old piece of paper, the sheet was yellow with time; if it had been another occasion Peter would have been amused to see Tony Stark, Iron Man and owner of the most advanced technology of the entire freaking planet, carefully holding in his hand the old sheet that had been completely covered with scotch tape to gather the torn pieces together like it was the most precious thing in the world to him.

Peter felt the lump in his throat when he saw the other man open the paper and he recognized his own handwriting written there. Their eyes met again and Tony answered him softly.

"Thanos didn't happen, Pete ... We assembled the Avengers earlier... we hunted him down before he even thought about gathering all the infinity stones. It was all over before it even started."

The engineer then indicated the pictures resting above the fireplace in the living room.

"Look, Pete..."

The younger man's gaze roved over the photos and watched them for a long moment; they were all there exactly as he remembered them, Morgan's birthdays, Stark family photos, tours they had taken, his electrical engineering graduation at MIT... they were all there, the only difference now was that Tony and Peter appeared together in all of them.

He couldn't tell when it started, but there was a moment when Peter realized the tears sliding down his cheeks and no matter what he tried to do, he didn't have the strength to hold them back or stop them.

"Because of you I had a chance to live all this with my family." Tony's partially choked voice called to him; the man's eyes sparkled with deep emotion that matched the others. "And we live it all together, Pete..."

Tony placed the letter on a nearby table, slowly approached the other and wrapped Peter's trembling body in his arms tightly, as if they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

"We live it together, son."

Peter wept on the other man's shoulder, hugging him back for dear life and Tony held him carefully, stroking his hair as he thought that the 'dad' word that Peter's muffled voice repeated over and over again against his chest was one of the most wonderful things he had ever heard in his blessed life.

~.~

_Tony entered the small bedroom of the humble apartment in Queens._

_It hadn't been difficult to find where he lived now; from what the time traveler had told him, the billionaire had only to wait for the first signs of the friendly neighborhood spider-man to begin to emerge in the neighborhood to know that the right time had come._

Spiders… _He snorted amused._

_With a quick organization that his wife masterfully prepared, they found no obstacles in getting Midtown School of Science and Technology to accept the internship program proposal for some of its most gifted students._ _Almost every student had applied early on day one, and while he was really considering giving some of the students the opportunity to work in the Tower labs, his main goal was only achieved when finally 5 days after the announcement Peter Parker's name appeared on the list._

_So while Pepper chatted excitedly with a surprised but contented May Parker on the living room's couch, congratulating her on her nephew's choice and explaining further details about the Stark Industries internship program, Tony stormed into the teenager's room while absently listening to their conversation; he could tell from his wife's natural spontaneity that she had liked Peter's aunt and that both women would become a long-term friends._

_The place was a mess; the bed was untidy, notebooks and half-open books scattered on the small study table, disassembled electronics scattered across the floor next to a pair of stinky socks, the door of the little wardrobe ajar with several clumsily bagged clothes one over another without being folded, several posters of the Star Wars films glued to the wall and there was a partially capped hole in the ceiling through which the billionaire could see that a portion of the homemade spider suit was sticking out._

_Tony snorted amused, but smiled fondly as his eyes caught the glimpse of the Iron Man's mask he had given him placed on the eaves of the bedroom window. Tony took the object in his hands and his fingers slid across its iron face, in his memories he saw again that brave little boy at Stark Expo facing the robots alone believing that, like his hero, he had the power to overcome evil and save the world._

_And he truly had._

_Unknowingly, he saved them all._

_The sound of the apartment door opening echoed seconds before Peter's familiar voice exclaimed in surprise to see Stark Industries CEO casually sitting on the couch of his living room, and it took less than a minute for the teenager who would become his son in heart to appear at the bedroom door and come across his childhood hero. The straps of the backpack slid across his limp fingers and the object dropped to the floor along with the kid's jaw, who stared incredulously at the man._

_"Hey kid." Tony flashed him a grin that spread genuinely and naturally across his face._

_Peter was just as he had imagined he would be as a fourteen year old; a youthful face, short, well-groomed brown hair and lively radiant brown eyes, fearless for adventures and challenges and yet innocent, without any trace of shadows or sadness of events that Tony swore would do everything in his power to keep them from happening again._

_He was a brilliant kid with a big future ahead of him that the man would make sure he would live to the best of his ability._

_He was perfect._

_The teenager suddenly realized that he was staring waaayyy too much and mentally kicked himself._

_"H-Hey! I-I'm-huh .. I'm-P-Peter! P-Peter P-Parker!"_

_"Tony." The billionaire responded with natural ease and Peter fumbled nervously with his shirt._

_"W-Why you ... W-What are you... d-doing here ...?"_

_"It was about time we meet. Now, however, I thought we could truly get to know each other." Tony approached and put one hand on the teenager's shoulder while the other returned him Iron Man's faceplate, repeating softly. "Nice work, kid ... Remember?"_

_Peter's eyes widened and he stared at his childhood hero in astonishment, and Tony smiled tenderly at his son._

_"I've waited a long time for this moment to come, Pete... You and I, we have a long history to live together, and it begins right now."_


End file.
